Franklin reaches 1,000 career points in XU win over Fisk

NEW ORLEANS -- SiMon Franklin reached 1,000 career points, and NAIA No. 12 Xavier University of Louisiana led wire-to-wire Monday in a 63-41 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference women's basketball victory against Fisk.

Franklin, a senior guard from Baton Rouge, La., and a graduate of St. Joseph's Academy, rebounded teammate Jessica Savannah's missed shot under the basket and scored a layup at 7:09 of the first half to reach the milestone and give the Gold Nuggets (14-4 overall, 4-2 GCAC) a 26-9 lead.

Franklin finished with 10 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals in 26 minutes and has 1,002 points in her career. She is the third recruit in Bo Browder's 14 seasons as XU's head coach to reach 1,000; the others were Jackie Tucker in 2004 and Jarryn Cleaves in 2007.

Whitney Gaston-Loyd led Xavier with 11 points and eight rebounds. She and Franklin were the only Gold Nuggets with more than seven points, but 13 XU players scored.

Also reaching a milestone was XU associate head coach Darrilyn Broussard, who reached her 300th victory since joining the program in 2000-01. The Nuggets are 300-89 during her tenure and never have won less than 23 games in a season. Browder is 338-115 in 14 seasons as XU's head coach.

Janine Davis scored a season-high 23 points, 15 in the first half, for Fisk (4-12, 0-6), which has an eight-game losing streak and hasn't won in more than six weeks.

Xavier held a double-digit lead for the final 31 minutes and led 38-21 at halftime, but the Nuggets never built the lead to 20 points until the 38th minute. The final margin was their largest of the game.

The Gold Nuggets outshot the Lady Bulldogs 36.9 to 25 percent from the floor and outrebounded them 50-37.

It was the first time this season that Xavier recorded back-to-back GCAC victories. The Gold Nuggets gained ground on the leaders when Talladega lost 76-68 at SUNO to move those teams into a first-place tie with 5-1 conference records. Xavier shares third place with Tougaloo, a 76-51 winner at home against Edward Waters.

The victory concluded a four-game home stand for Xavier, whose next game will start at 5 p.m. Saturday at GCAC and city rival Dillard. The Nuggets' next home game will start at 6 p.m. on Jan. 31 against William Carey.


By Ed Cassiere, SID
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA