XU Nuggets beat Fisk, clinch tie for GCAC regular-season title

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Jasmine Grant scored 10 of her 12 points in the first half Monday to help NAIA No. 19 Xavier University of Louisiana earn an 81-50 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference women's basketball victory against Fisk.

The Gold Nuggets (21-8 overall, 11-2 GCAC) won their third straight and clinched a tie for the GCAC regular-season championship. They began the day tied for first place with Talladega, but the Lady Tornadoes lost 60-47 at Tougaloo. Xavier can win the title with a victory Saturday at Dillard in the regular-season finale.

Keldra Hall scored 11 points, and Paige Gauthier had a season-high-tying 10 points and a career-best nine assists for Xavier. All 15 Gold Nuggets scored.

De'Erin Rogan scored 15 points for Fisk (4-22, 0-12), and Simona Newman and Tiffany Wynn scored 10 apiece.

Xavier led 40-25 at halftime and took its biggest lead, 76-38, when Gauthier passed to Paige Rochelle for a fast-break basket with 6:08 remaining.

Gauthier is the third XU player this season to reach nine assists in a game. Her previous high was five. Gauthier had seven assists in the second half.

Xavier shot a season-high 57.4 percent from the floor — 65.4 in the second half — and limited the Lady Bulldogs to 30.4 percent. The Gold Nuggets had a 38-24 rebound advantage, and they recorded their largest winning margin on an opponent's floor since a 74-40 victory at William Carey on Feb. 27, 2003.

It was the first time since November 2010 that the Nuggets reached 80 points, and it was the first time they did it on the road since December 2008.

The XU-Dillard game will tip off at 5 p.m. Saturday at Dillard's Dent Hall.

BOX SCORE

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
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VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA