U-High's Matthews signs with Xavier for 2013-14 season

Makayla Matthews

NEW ORLEANS — Makayla Matthews of Baton Rouge, La., and University Laboratory High School has signed a women's basketball scholarship with Xavier University of Louisiana.

Matthews, a 6-foot-1 center who will begin her senior year at U-High on Monday, is the earliest signee during Bo Browder's tenure at Xavier. Browder will begin his 14th season as head coach of the Gold Nuggets this fall.

A starter the past three seasons for the Lady Cubs, Matthews averaged 11.1 points, 10 rebounds, 3.4 blocked shots and 1.2 steals per game in 2011-12. She was second-team All-District 7-2A and helped U-High finish 30-5 and reach the semifinals of the Class 2A state playoffs.

Matthews averaged 8.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game in 2010-11 and was the 7-2A Defensive Player of the Year. As a freshman in 2009-10 for a U-High team which was 38-1 and finished second in the 2A playoffs, Matthews had six games with 10 or more rebounds, including a pair of double-doubles. U-High is 96-12 the past three seasons.

Matthews, who scored a 26 on the ACT, will be a pre-medical major at Xavier.

Xavier was 26-9 in 2011-12, won Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championships and, for the second consecutive year, reached the second round of the NAIA Division I National Championship. The GCAC Tournament title was the Gold Nuggets' third in a row. Xavier reached 20 victories 19 of the past 20 seasons and qualified for the national tournament 16 of the past 18 seasons.

Xavier is one of 38 U.S. colleges listed as a "Best Buy School" in the 2013 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
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