Gold Nuggets picked 1st; Gathright on preseason team

WHITNEY GATHRIGHT

NEW ORLEANS  — For the sixth consecutive season, Xavier University of Louisiana is the preseason pick to win the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference women's basketball championship.

Picked to the five-member preseason All-GCAC team for 2015-16 was XU senior Whitney Gathright. Teammate Donyeah Mayfield received honorable mention.

The GCAC's seven head coaches made the selections, and the GCAC announced them Thursday.

The Gold Nuggets, 18-15 overall and 9-5 (second place) in the GCAC in 2014-15, received four first-place votes and 45 points. SUNO, last year's regular-season and tournament champion, received one first-place vote and 33 points to finish second.

Two other teams received first-place votes: Dillard, third with 31 points, and Philander Smith, fifth with 25. Talladega placed fourth, and Edward Waters and Tougaloo were 6-7.

Gathright, a 5-foot-4 guard from New Orleans and a graduate of John Curtis Christian School, led the Gold Nuggets in 2014-15 with 12.8 points, 3.7 assists and 2.0 steals per game. She was the only Louisiana woman last season with 400 points, 100 rebounds, 100 assists, 100 made free throws, 40 made 3-pointers and 60 steals. Twice she has been named All-GCAC and third-team All-Louisiana. Gathright was honorable mention on a pair of NAIA All-America teams last season.

Mayfield, a 5-11 senior forward from Vicksburg, Miss., and a graduate of Vicksburg High School, averaged 7.5 points and a team-leading 7.6 rebounds last season. She was the first Gold Nugget since Brittany Powell (2009-10) to reach 200 points, 200 rebounds and 40 assists in one season.

The NAIA will announce Oct. 27 its preseason Division I national top 25.

The Gold Nuggets will begin their 38th season of the Title IX era on the road against NAIA opponent Webber International at 5 p.m. EDT Oct. 31 in Babson Park, Fla. The first home game will start at 6 p.m. Nov. 7 in the Convocation Center against NCAA Division II's LeMoyne-Owen.

GCAC Preseason Voting
All-Conference
Name School Pos. Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG
Tajanee Wells Talladega G/F 5-8 Jr. Columbus, Ohio 17.4 7.3
Whitney Gathright Xavier G 5-4 Sr. New Orleans, La. 12.8 4.4
Alena Evans Dillard F 5-10 Sr. Las Vegas, Nev. 12.4 6.9
Montoria Atkinson Tougaloo F 6-0 So. Jackson, Miss. 14.4 10.4
Rubyunnia McHenry Philander Smith C 6-3 Sr. Strong, Ark. 2.7 9.6
Preseason Player of the Year: Tajanee Wells, Talladega
Honorable Mention: Kyeshia Dawkins, Edward Waters; Brittany Leonard, Philander Smith; Rayvin Miller, SUNO; Shakeena Benton, Talladega; Donyeah Mayfield, Xavier

Order of Finish (first-place votes in parentheses)
Rank School Points
1 Xavier (4) 45
2 SUNO (1) 33
3 Dillard (1) 31
4 Talladega 30
5 Philander Smith (1) 25
6 Edward Waters 18
7 Tougaloo 12

Xavier in previous GCAC polls
2014-15 — 1st
2013-14 — 1st
2012-13 — 1st
2011-12 — 1st
2010-11 — 1st
2009-10 — 2nd
2008-09 — 1st
2007-08 — 2nd 2006-07 — 3rd
2004-05 — 1st
2003-04 — 2nd
2002-03 — 2nd
2001-02 — 1st
1999-2000 — 1st
1993-94 — 1st

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
twitter.com/xulagold
www.facebook.com/xulagold