Box Score
San Francisco, CA – Locked in a battle after one half of play inside Kezar Pavilion on Saturday afternoon, the Urban Knights used a 10-0 second half run to seal a 79-70 victory over BYU-Hawaii. Academy of Art forced a season-best 33 turnovers, getting 27 points off those Seasider miscues.
Krystal Forthan led the way once again with a season-high 26 points and 14 rebounds while
Zoie Sheng added 18 points and five assists.
It was a back-and-forth battle early on with a four-point lead from
Sha'Nice Storey's free throws and a
Jasmin Guinn layup countered by a four-point advantage for BYUH on a triple from Brydgette Tatupu-Leopoldo. The Seasiders then went from up six to down three with
Regina Camera igniting an 11-2 burst that included a Sheng triple to give ART U the lead, 16-14 at 14:25.
Momentum continued to see-saw as BYU-Hawaii came back to capture a 23-19 advantage thanks to back-to-back buckets from Talyn Bevell and Tatupu-Leopoldo. Forthan, however, single-handedly erased that margin and soon the Knights were back up by four with just five minutes remaining in the half. A 6-0 Seasider run was stopped by ART U free throws and, when all was said and done in the opening period, both teams stood deadlocked at 33-33.
Academy of Art steadily built a six-point lead through the first four minutes of the second half, starting with a Forthan basket and later adding layups from Sheng and
Alisa Griggs. BYU-Hawaii free throws kept them close and a 13-6 push by the Seasiders grinded them back in thanks to triples by Jiashan Cui, Danna Lynn Hooper, and Tatupu-Leopoldo.
A 53-52 BYUH lead was then overcome once and for all by the 10-0 surge the large ART U crowd had been awaiting. Much of the run came on free throws with Sheng,
Molly O'Brien, and Guinn each knocking down a pair, but Sheng made it a 62-53 margin for her team with a jumper at the 8:15 mark. From there, the Knights kept their foot on the gas pedal and continued to force turnovers or contested looks.
Though BYU-Hawaii came within five, 72-67, with 3:11 left, Academy of Art finished off the game on a 7-3 run that came exclusively at the foul line after Sheng provided a dagger 3-pointer. In the end, ART U swept the season series and moved to 9-2 all-time against the Seasiders with the 79-70 victory.
The Urban Knights improve to 13-6 overall this season complemented by a 10-1 PacWest Conference record. Making 11-of-23 shots from the field, Forthan finished with 26 points and 14 rebounds (nine offensive) while Sheng turned in 18 points (5-of-10 FG, 6-of-6 FT), five assists, four rebounds, and four steals. Camera was the third and final ART U player to score in double figures with 11 points though Guinn was close with eight points and six steals. The 33 turnovers forced topped the previous 2013-14 high of 29 at Hawaii Pacific on Jan. 4.
For the Seasiders (2-14, 2-9 PacWest), four players scored in double figures led by Tatupu-Leopoldo's 19 points and seven rebounds. Hooper added 14 points (9-of-9 FT) and the tandem of Marquessa Gilson and Cui each had 11 points apiece. However, those four players combined for 24 turnovers in total.
Academy of Art finishes its homestand with a 3-0 record and now looks ahead to its out-of-state roadtrip to St. George, UT for a Jan. 30 matchup with Dixie State. That will be followed by a Feb. 1 pairing with Point Loma.
