SAN FRANCISCO – The Fresno Pacific women's basketball team picked up the biggest win of its' season on Thursday night, knocking off Academy of Art in a back-and-forth battle to remain in the hunt for the PacWest Conference Tournament. With a win in Saturday's regular season finale, the Sunbirds would have a chance to clinch the program's first playoff berth since joining the league prior to the 2012-13 season.
 
QUOTABLE:
• "We knew this team was going to be shorthanded and our goal was to tire them out, but they still have five very good players who did not get tired tonight. We had some stretches where we did what we wanted and some where we were flat. In the end, we stayed true to our scheme. It wasn't the prettiest performance, but we did just enough to get a win. In the last couple of weeks, we haven't had everybody show up on the same night, and we will have to be better on Saturday. Dominican is a talented team we feel that we match up well against, and it should be a great game. This one has been circled on our calendar long before we knew it would have playoff implications, but we will need everyone to be at their very best." – head coach Tim Beauregard
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Fresno Pacific 78, Academy of Art 76
Records: FPU (12-15, 10-9 PacWest), ARTU (6-21, 5-14 PacWest) 
Location: San Francisco | The Swamp    
All-Time Series: ARTU leads 7-2
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HOW IT HAPPENED:
• Bree Alvarez started the game on a hot streak, connecting on her first five shots, including four from beyond the arc.
• Jazzlyn Brewster and Pre'Fanz Dominick teamed up for 27 points in the first half, helping the Urban Knights carry a 37-33 lead into the locker room at the intermission.
• ARTU came away with their most productive stretch of the game in the third quarter, outscoring their guests 23-17.
• Down by as many as eight in the fourth quarter, the Blue and Orange went back to making the most of their offensive opportunities, racking up 28 points in the game's final ten minutes.
 
STATS OF THE GAME:
• Alvarez finished her night with a career-high 31 points on an 11-of-16 shooting effort, including 8-of-11 from behind the arc.
• Jessica Malazarte finished an assist shy of her first career double-double, while Barbara Keomany came off the bench to give the Sunbirds 10 points and five rebounds.
• For the Knights, the tandem of Jazzlynn Brewster and Pre'Franz Dominick was near unstoppable, combining for 59 of ARTU's 76 points.
• The Sunbirds won the turnover battle by a margin of 20-16, but ARTU outrebound FPU by a total of 36-22.  
• With Alvarez leading the way, Fresno Pacific connected on 12 three pointers as a team, setting a new season-high.
 
PLAYOFF PICTURE:
• The top six teams in the league will compete in the PacWest Conference Tournament, which is scheduled for March 1-3 in Riverside. The top four seeds have already been secured.
• FPU entered Thursday's game in 7th place among qualifying teams in the PacWest, with Dominican and Point Loma in a tie for fifth.
• The Sunbirds hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over Point Loma, but Dominican currently has the tiebreaker over FPU.
• FPU entered Thursday with a strength of schedule rating that was .005 points higher than that of Dominican, but Dominican's loss on Thursday came against a higher-ranked team than FPU's win.
• With a loss to Dominican on Saturday, Fresno Pacific would be eliminated from playoff contention, making Dominican the fifth seed and Point Loma the final seed.
• With a win over Dominican and a Point Loma loss on Saturday, the Sunbirds would force the second tiebreaker, which is strength of schedule rating for the entire season. Even with this scenario, there is no guarantee that FPU would jump Dominican in strength of schedule rating.  
 
UP NEXT:
• FPU and Dominican square off on Saturday afternoon in a game that could decide the final seeding for the PacWest Conference Tournament. Tipoff from the Conlan Center in San Rafael is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.