Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Gold Nuggets 10th in NAIA for third consecutive

 NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's women's basketball team has its highest national ranking entering a Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament since 2003.

 The Gold Nuggets are 10th for the third consecutive week in NAIA Division I Coaches' Top 25 Poll announced Tuesday afternoon. Voting was based on games through Sunday. It's the sixth time in 11 polls this season that Xavier has been in the top 10.

Xavier (24-4) closed the regular season with two GCAC victories — 71-61 at Tougaloo, 67-43 at home against Dillard — and will enter its GCAC Tournament first-round game against Fisk with a 12-game win streak, its longest since 2010. The Xavier-Fisk game will tip off at noon Thursday at Barton Coliseum in Little Rock, Ark.

Xavier is the tournament's top seed after winning the regular-season championship by one game over SUNO and Talladega. The Gold Nuggets seek their fourth consecutive GCAC Tournament championship.

The Gold Nuggets entered the 2003 GCAC Tournament at No. 10 nationally, then lost 71-70 to Mobile in the semifinals. But Xavier made amends at the NAIA National Championship by beating 14th-ranked Trevecca Nazarene in the opening round — the Nuggets' only victory at nationals during Bo Browder's first 11 seasons as head coach.

NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses — records through Sunday, Feb. 24)

Rank Team Record Points Last
1 Freed-Hardeman (6) 29-1 277 1
2 Oklahoma City (5) 24-2 276 2
3 Westmont 24-3 263 4
4 Lubbock Christian 26-3 251 5
5 Westminster (Utah) 25-3 245 3
6 Cumberland 26-2 236 6
7 Lee (Tenn.) 27-2 228 tie-7
8 Vanguard 21-3 220 tie-7
9 MidAmerica Nazarene 26-2 209 9
10Xavier24-419710
11 The Master's 25-4 194 11
12 Benedictine (Kan.) 25-4 180 12
13 Shawnee State 22-7 166 14
14 Rogers State 22-8 165 13
15 Columbia (Mo.) 24-6 154 15
16 Georgetown (Ky.) 20-8 148 18
17 Lyon 27-3 134 17
18 Campbellsville 21-8 126 16
19 Faulkner 25-5 123 19
20 Wiley 25-3 114 20
21 Our Lady of the Lake 27-2 102 21
22 Bethel (Tenn.) 20-9 82 23
23 William Woods 23-5 81 22
24 Carroll (Mont.) 19-8 67 RV
25 LSU-Shreveport 23-4 65 25

eceiving votes: Southern Poly 58, St. Catharine (Ky.) 50, Auburn Montgomery 25, Cumberlands 17, Central Methodist 16, Coastal Georgia 15, Baker 9, SUNO 8.





 

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