Xavier Gold Nuggets No. 16, their best preseason rank since '04

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana is No. 16 in the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 announced Monday. It's the Gold Nuggets' highest preseason ranking since the 2004-05 season, when they were 15th.

Xavier, 27-7 this past season and two-time defending Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament champion, returns 13 letterwomen and three starters. The Nuggets will attempt to reach 20 victories for the 19th time in 20 seasons and qualify for the NAIA Division I National Championship for the 16th time in 18 seasons. This past season the Gold Nuggets reached the second round of nationals for the first time since 2003.

Xavier was 22nd in the 2010-11 preseason. It's the first time since a four-year streak from 2001-04 that the Nuggets are preseason top-25 in consecutive years.

Three XU opponents this season — No. 3 Oklahoma City, No. 19 Langston and No. 21 Shorter — also are ranked. Langston will visit the Nuggets on Nov. 25, and Shorter will visit Dec. 3 and play host to the Nuggets on Jan. 4. Xavier will play Oklahoma City in Las Vegas on Dec. 20.

The other GCAC team to receive votes was SUNO, which collected nine points and ranks 34th. Xavier will play host to the Lady Knights on Jan. 10 and visit SUNO on Feb. 6. Three others which received votes — Southern Poly, Georgetown (Ky.) and city rival Loyola — also will play the Nuggets this season.

Defending champion Azusa Pacific received all 12 first-place votes to end the 48-poll No. 1 streak of Union (Ky.), which lost 65-59 to Azusa in the national championship game on March 22.

The first regular-season poll will be announced Dec. 5.

Xavier will travel to SEC opponent LSU for a Nov. 2 exhibition, then open the regular season Nov. 4 against Florida Memorial at The Barn. Both games will tip off at 7 p.m.

NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25(first-place votes in parentheses — includes 2010-11 final records) Rank Team Record Points Last 1 Azusa Pacific (12) 33-5 312 3 2 Union (Tenn.) 35-2 302 1 3 Oklahoma City 27-4 290 4 4 Shawnee State 27-10 280 tie-24 5 Lewis-Clark State 29-5 266 10 6-tie Freed-Hardeman 27-9 248 7 6-tie Bethel (Tenn.) 27-7 248 6 8 Campbellsville 30-4 234 2 9 Westminster (Utah) 28-7 222 8 10 Vanguard 18-11 221 19 11 Southern Nazarene 27-7 220 18 12 Olivet Nazarene 26-6 202 16 13 Saint Xavier 24-6 179 12 14 Lindsey Wilson 24-9 175 15 15 Lee (Tenn.) 25-7 174 tie-13 16 Xavier 27-7 166 20 17 Lubbock Christian 23-10 158 22 18 Columbia (Mo.) 28-6 157 11 19 Langston 28-5 152 tie-13 20 Westmont 20-10 124 23 21 Shorter 24-8 110 RV 22 Evangel 21-9 85 tie-24 23 William Woods 30-5 77 21 24 Rogers State 23-10 72 RV 25 Belhaven 24-9 58 RV Others receiving votes: The Master's 57, Carroll (Mont.) 39, Cumberlands 26, Southern Poly 22, Robert Morris (Chicago) 18, Avila 15, Point Loma Nazarene 11, Texas Wesleyan 10; SUNO 9, Loyola 7, Wayland Baptist 5, John Brown 4, Biola 3, Voorhees 1, Rocky Mountain 1, Benedictine (Kan.) 1, Georgetown (Ky.) 1.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
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