Stan Plewe/Utah Tech Athletics

Women's Basketball 1/29/2014 2:21:00 PM Jeff Cluff, Coordinator of Media Relations

WBB: Game Notes #18 vs. Academy of Art (1/30) & Game #19 vs. Dominican (2/1)

Dixie State vs. Academy of Art (1/30) & vs. Dominican (2/1)
Game Details	Game 18 - Thursday, Jan. 30 at 5:00 p.m. vs. Academy of Art Burns Arena (4,779) St. George, UT Game 19 - Saturday, Feb. 1 at 5:00 p.m. vs. Dominican (CA) Burns Arena (4,779) St. George, UT
Game Coverage	TV: None \| Radio: 91.3 FM Live Video: via DixieAthletics.com Live Stats: via DixieAthletics.com Live Audio: DixieAthletics.com/Showcase Twitter: @DixieAthletics #DixieWBB
Dixie State Links	\| Roster \| Schedule

GAME INFO: The Red Storm return home for two games in the next six at Burns Arena. DSU opens with PacWest leader Academy of Art on Thursday and then follows with a Saturday matchup with Dominican, both contests tip-off at 5 p.m. Live stats, live audio, and live video with the links available on DixieAthletics.com. John Potter, "Voice of the Red Storm," will cover play by play via DixieAthletics.com Showcase and 91.3 FM.

ROAD TO SAN DIEGO: The Road to San Diego saw some fantastic finishes and some heart-stopping wins and losses this past week. California Baptist and Academy of Art continue to hold on to the top men's spot and top women's spot respectively in our weekly look at the race for the six qualifying spots for the PacWest Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament. The tournament will be held March 6-8 at Point Loma's Golden Gymnasium.

On the men's side, No. 12 CBU tasted defeat for the first time this season, losing to arch-rival Azusa Pacific. The Lancers remain atop the standings with a 10-1 conference mark. Chaminade started out the week with two wins and had a chance to tie for top seed, but lost to Dominican on a last-second shot in overtime. Dixie State lost at the buzzer to Point Loma to go 1-1 on the week, and is just a game behind Chaminade with an 8-3 conference record.

BYU-Hawaii went over the century mark in a scintillating overtime win at Academy of Art to move up into the fourth position at 7-4, while Dominican's thrilling victory over bumped the Penguins up to the fifth seed. Hawai'i Pacific struggled on the mainland, losing three games to fall back into the final spot of the field. Notre Dame de Namur won a pair of games and is right on the heels of the Sea Warriors at 5-6.

On the women's side, Academy of Art won three home games on the week to improve to 10-1 and extend its lead as the top seed to two games. Hawai'i Pacific remains in the No. 2 slot at 8-3. California Baptist and Dixie State each split two games on the week and have 6-5 conference records. CBU holds the tiebreaker and the No. 3 seed.

Despite losing three road games, Hawai'i Hilo still holds the No. 5 seed. Dominican improved to 4-8 and holds onto the highly contested final spot in the field. The Penguins have a half game lead over Bay Area rival Notre Dame de Namur, who improved to 3-8 with a 1-1 week. Chaminade, who went 0-3 on the week, and BYU-Hawaii, who went 1-2, are just one game behind in the loss column.

ALL-TIME vs. ART U: DSU leads the all-time series 6-1, and also holds a perfect 3-0 record in the Burns Arena. The lone loss came at ARTU on Jan. 3, 2012, when the Urban Knights prevailed 60-59.

LAST TIME AGAINST the URBAN KNIGHTS: The Dixie State women's basketball team picked up a huge 53-52 Pacific West Conference victory over Academy of Art today at Keezar Pavillion. With the win the Red Storm hold onto the No. 3 spot in the inaugural PWC Tournament the second week of March. DSC improves to 10-10 overall and 8-4 in the PWC. Mandy Munns (Brigham City, UT/Box Elder) led all scorers with 15 points and eight rebounds. Johnna Brown (Las Vegas, NV/Centennial ) scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Kirsten Marie Liana (Honolulu, HI/Farrington) added 11 points. Both teams struggled shooting in the first half, with DSC shooting 30.8 percent and AAU connecting on just 16.7 percent. The game was tied at 22-22 at halftime. The largest lead for either team was six points and featured eight ties and six lead changes. After trailing by four points early in the second half, the Red Storm used a quick 7-0 run to take over the lead an never trail again. The Urban Knights would cut the lead to one with just five seconds left, but they couldn't get their last second shot off in their attempt to win the game. AAU shot just 27.4 percent from the floor, but outrebounded DSC 42-39 to keep them in the game. DSC shot just under 40 percent at 39.6 percent.

SCOUTING ACADEMY of ART: The leaders of the PacWest have won three straight games and are 13-6 overall and 10-1 in conference play. The Urban Knights lone loss came in overtime earlier this month when Holy Names grinded out a 75-70 win. ARTU is a solid program that has been turned around by head coach and former DSU assistant LaNay Larson. She has her squad playing with a significant amount of confidence and will be trying to swing the pendulum the way against the Red Storm. ARTU connects on 39.3 percent from the field, 26.6 percent from behind the arc and 67.9 percent from the free-throw line. They average 43.9 rebounds per game, which helps convert them into the 76.9 points per game they average. ARTU added a DI transfer Krystal Forthan from LSU at the semester break. Forthan is a 6-4 forward who in eight games is averaging 19.5 ppg and 11.0 rebounds per game. Three other players add balance to the Knight offense, with Molly O'Brien (10.8), Zoie Sheng (10.7) and Sha'Nice Storey (10.2) averaging in double figures. Opponents average 68.1 ppg and shoot 29.5 percent from three.

ALL-TIME vs. DUC: Dixie State leads the all-time series 7-1 and is winners of seven in a row. The only defeat at the hands of the Penguins came in a 74-55 neutral site loss on Nov. 18, 2006 in Belmont, Calif.

LAST TIME AGAINST the PENGUINS: Erica Hayes (East Palo Alto, CA/Menlo-Atherton) and Mandy Munns (Brigham City, UT/Box Elder) led the Dixie State women's basketball team to a come from behind 65-54 win over Dominican tonight at the Conlan Center. Erica Hayes (East Palo Alto, CA/Menlo-Atherton) scored 19 points (8-13) and had five steals and Mandy Munns (Brigham City, UT/Box Elder) added 16 points (8-11) and 13 rebounds off the bench to help the Red Storm win their third straight game and improve to 11-10 overall and 9-4 in the PacWest. Playing tonight without leading scorer and rebounder Johnna Brown (Las Vegas, NV/Centennial ) (concussion), the Red Storm shot 51.6 percent in the first half to build a 38-30 lead at intermission. The second half saw the pesky Penguins open the second half with an 11-0 run to take a three-point lead with 15:22 left in the game. Dominican built a 47-42 lead with 9:27 left, but the Red Storm outscored the Penguins 23-7 over the last nine minutes to secure the victory. Dixie State outrebounded the Penguins 47-44 with the help of Munns and Kirsten Maria Liana's 12 rebounds. Liana also just missed her first double double by scoring nine points. Dixie State shot 41.9 percent for the game. The Penguins were led by Kimi Nakamura's 11 points, and Lauren Hyatt's 10 points and 13 rebounds. They drop to 5-17 overall and 4-10 in PacWest play.

SCOUTING DOMINICAN (CA): The Penguins are 4-14 overall and 4-8 in PacWest play and have won two consecutive. DUC defeated Chaminade its last time out 77-53 and Hawaii Hilo 63-53 on Jan. 23. Leading the way in scoring and rebounding is Salonika Quewon-Owens at 11.8 ppg and 7.7 rpg. She has led DUC in scoring on ten different occasions. All the offense seems to run through the 5-9 senior guard and as she goes, so does DUC. The Penguins average 61.9 ppg, while allowing 73.2 ppg. They shoot 35.9 percent from the field, 27.3 percent from behind the arc, and 61.7 percent from the line. They average 40.8 rebounds per game and 18.9 turnovers.

LAST TIME OUT: Dixie State University sophomore center Taylor Mann (Castle Dale, UT/Emery) recorded her sixth double-double this season by scoring 17 points and grabbing 16 rebounds to lead the Red Storm to a 70-67 Pacific West Conference win over Point Loma Nazarene University. The Storm improves to 8-9 overall and more importantly 6-5 in PacWest play. With the victory, DSU is back on the inside of the coveted hunt for postseason. The top six teams will play in the second annual PacWest Tournament March 6-8, 2014 in San Diego. DSU senior guard Haley Holmstead (American Fork, UT/American Fork) helped the Storm keep pace in the first half with Point Loma (8-8/6-6 PWC) by scoring 14 of her team and game high 19 points. But, the Red Storm still trailed 39-34 at intermission. The second half belonged to Mann, who had a monster half by scoring 13 points, eight rebounds and collected four of her five blocks and two of her three steals. The Red Storm again had monster rebounding numbers in the game. They outrebounded the Sea Lions 61-33, with 27 of them coming on the offensive side. DSU converted those boards into 15-second chance points. DSU quickly erased the halftime deficit with a 5-0 run and the two squads traded baskets for most of the second half. Trailing by two points with 5:45 left, Mann hit a jumper that tied the game at 58-58, it was the seventh and final tie of the game. After a quick turnover by PLNU and a steal by guard Austen Harris (Acworth, GA/Desert Vista), junior guard Kaylah Miller (San Diego, CA/La Jolla Country Day) hit a three pointer to give DSU a 61-58 lead with 5:31 left. The two teams traded baskets over the remainder of the game. A last second three pointer as time expired was blocked by Miller to secure the DSU victory. Leading DSU rebounder Haileigh Emerine (Spanish Fork, UT/Spanish Fork) grabbed 11 rebounds, along with Nanea Woods (Portland, OR/St. Mary's Academy) as well. The Red Storm committed 25 turnovers to the Sea Lions 19.

RED STORM NOTES: The Storm returned to its winning ways on Saturday night when they avenged its home loss to Point Loma 70-67. DSU has a favorable schedule remaining, with seven of their remaining games coming at the friendly confines of Burns Arena. The Red Storm is 8-9 overall and 6-5 PacWest play, currently tied for fifth place. DSU is lead in scoring by PWC leading scorer Haley Holmstead (American Fork, UT/American Fork) and her 21.6 ppg. Kaylah Miller (San Diego, CA/La Jolla Country Day) adds 13.1 ppg (12^th) and Brianna White (Phoenix, AZ/Tolleson Union) 9.6 ppg. DSU continues to dominate the battle of the boards, averaging 51.1 rpg, 11.1 more than its opponents. Haileigh Emerine (Spanish Fork, UT/Spanish Fork) leads the squad at 8.3 rpg and Taylor Mann (Castle Dale, UT/Emery) chips in 7.6 rpg (9^th in PWC) and sleeper Nanea Woods (Portland, OR/St. Mary's Academy) adds 6.3 rpg. The Red Storm lead the PacWest in several categories, with most of them centered on its ability to rebound the basketball. DSU grabs 51.1 rpg and outrebound their opponents by a margin of 10.6 per game.

The Storm average 73.1 ppg , shooting 36.8 percent from the field and 26.9 percent from behind the arc. The real issue for the DSU squad has been allowing 77.12 ppg and committing 20.8 turnovers per game. DSU looks to try and build some momentum as they head down the stretch towards postseason.

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