HONOLULU – Back at home for the first time in six weeks and the first time in 2024, the Chaminade University women's basketball team fell behind to Academy of Art early, took a sizeable lead midway through before running out of steam in the fourth to suffer a 74-68 loss at McCabe Gymnasium.
Despite being saddled in foul trouble,
Sameera Elmasri (Shawnee, Kan./Birmingham-Southern Univ./Saint Thomas Aquinas HS) had 13 points for the Silverswords who fell to 2-12 on the season and 0-9 in the Pacific West Conference.
Ashley Holen (Watford City, N.D./Minot State University/Watford City HS) added 12 with
Emma Morris (Tucson, Ariz./Tanque Verde) chipping in with nine.
Morgan Escobedo (Scottsdale, Ariz./Pinnacle) got another solid all-around performance with eight points, five rebounds, three assists and four steals.
Alyssa Schuetze (Temecula, Calif./Great Oak) came off the bench and tied her season high with seven points with a season-best nine boards while
Amaya Washington (Peoria, Ariz./Dream City Christian) added nine points.
Alba Rovira Ayuso had a game-high 24 points for the Urban Knights (4-10, 3-5 PacWest) who swept the season series, despite suffering 26 turnovers, the most by a Chaminade opponent this season.
For the first seven-plus minutes, the 'Swords played like a squad who hadn't been home in 42 days, missing nine of their first 10 shots as ART U raced out to a 20-3 lead. But thanks to solid free throw shooting, they worked themselves back in with a 19-2 surge spanning the first and second quarters. Elmasri had eight points during the run including 6-for-6 from the free throw line while Schuetze had six more. ART U went 0-for-9 from the floor during that six-minute span with just two free throws.
Chaminade finally took its first lead at 25-24 midway through the second quarter on a Holen free throw while Elmasri splashed a 3-pointer for a 28-25 edge that helped stake them to a 40-32 halftime lead.
Holen's layup on the opening possession of the second half gave the Silverswords their largest lead of the game at 42-32. But the Urban Knights, who had just three 3-pointers in the first half, found their range, hitting two right before the end of the third quarter.
The momentum carried into the fourth with ART U outscoring Chaminade 14-2 to start including rally-killing triples on back-to-back possessions to help hand the 'Swords their 25th straight PacWest defeat while still seeking their first conference home win since February 2020.
Chaminade shot 33.3 percent from the field, made four 3-pointers while going 20-of-29 from the foul line. The 'Swords were out-rebounded by a 51-to-37 count and committed 17 turnovers.
ART U shot 41.3 percent from the floor, bolstered by making nine of 16 shots in the final quarter. The Urban Knights had nine triples – six in the second half – and had six blocks.
The game itself would probably not be saved for posterity with 43 combined turnovers as compared to 48 made baskets.
The Silverswords, who began a five-game home stand, gets Dominican University of California on Monday with tipoff set at 5:30 p.m.
