FRESNO, Calif. – The Fresno Pacific women's basketball team played its final regular-season home game and honored their lone senior Rachel Berry on Saturday but fell to Academy of Art 64-53.
 
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"We played a pretty gutty game throughout the duration. I thought it was two good teams battling it out. A few too many turnovers for us and a stretch of scoreless possessions in the fourth cost us the game. We had some solid stretches in the game that we will look to build upon in tomorrow's game. We'll shake this one off quickly and make our way to the Bay Area tonight for a must win tomorrow. It's an exciting time of year." – head coach Tim Beauregard
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Art opened the game with a 3-pointer on their first possession, followed by a layup to quickly take a 5-0 lead just 30 seconds into the contest.
• FPU was able to respond in like thanks to a layup from Felicia Dourva and a 3-pointer from Sara Lundqvist to tie things up less than two minutes into the game.
• After some back and forth between the two teams, the Sunbirds were able to take their first lead of the day with 3:15 to go in the quarter after a layup from Joleen Corona made it 14-13 FPU.
• The two teams went back and forth for the last three minutes, trading one-point leads, until Anisa Rillo put the Sunbirds up two with a deep 3-pointer as time expired in the first quarter.
• A quick jumper from Art tied things up at 18, but Breanna Hurt took the lead right back for the Sunbirds with a layup, assisted by Lydia Manu.
• Both teams continued to trade punches, with neither grabbing an edge over the other. The game went into halftime tied 28-28.
• The Knights jumped out to a hot start to open the second half, scoring six straight points off three FPU turnovers to go up 34-28.
• The continued to go on a 10-2 run, leading 38-30 with 6:50 to go in the period, but the Sunbirds came alive, sparking an 18-4 run to take a 48-42 lead with 1:25 left in the quarter.
• The run was sparked by a three-point play from Hurt, followed by a jumper from Rillo to make it a three-point game.
• Down two with 2:20 to go, Dourva tied the game up with a jumper, followed by a Lundqvist 3-pointer that gave FPU the lead.
• The run continued with a 3-pointer from Rillo, but Art was able to score four points in the last minute to cut the Sunbird lead to just two points heading into the final period.
• The Knights were able to score four straight to start the final quarter to take a two-point lead, but Corona knocked down a clutch 3-pointer to give it right back to the Sunbirds.
• After a couple empty possessions by both teams, FPU was able to extend its lead to three on a layup from Dourva with 7:11 to go in the game.
• On the next possession, Art was able to spark a 14-0 run that would last the rest of the game and give the Knights the win.

 
STATS FROM THE GAME

• Rillo scored a game-high 14 points and pulled down four rebounds.
• Lundqvist finished with a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds with three 3-pointers.
• Hurt scored 10 points off the bench.

 
UP NEXT
 
The Blue and Orange will close out the regular season with a makeup game on Sunday at Holy Names at 4 p.m. The Sunbirds must win in order to punch their ticket to the PacWest Conference Tournament, which starts on March 4 at the Special Events Center.
 
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