NEW ORLEANS -- Xavier University of Louisiana climbed four places to 20th Wednesday in the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll. The NAIA also announced that Xavier is one of 32 qualifiers for the national tournament.
The Gold Nuggets (23-9) secured an automatic berth to nationals by defeating Talladega 66-59 Sunday in the championship game of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament at XU's Convocation Center. The Nuggets qualified for the fifth consecutive year and the 18th time in 20 seasons, Xavier's ranking is its highest since Feb. 4.
It's the 13th time that the Nuggets qualified for nationals during Bo Browder's 15 seasons as head coach.
The GCAC will have two women's teams at nationals for the second consecutive year. Talladega, the regular-season champion and No. 22 in the poll, received its first-ever bid.
Pairings and times for the NAIA Division I National Championship will be announced Wednesday evening. The tournament will be played March 19-25 at Frankfort Convention Center in Frankfort, Ky.
Vanguard, despite suffering its first loss of the season in the semifinals of its conference tournament, held on to No. 1 and received 9-of-10 first-place votes. The Lions have topped all 12 polls this season.
The top 25:
1. Vanguard
2. Freed-Hardeman
3. Westminster (Utah)
4. Campbellsville
5. Oklahoma City
6. Oklahoma Baptist
7. The Master's
8. Georgetown (Ky.)
9. Our Lady of the Lake
10. Columbia (Mo.)
11. Wiley
12. Baker
13. Westmont
14. MidAmerica Nazarene
15. Lewis-Clark State
16. Hope International
17. Lyon
18. Wayland Baptist
19. John Brown
20. Xavier
21. Montana State-Northern
22. Talladega
23. Cumberlands
24. Mobile
25. Shawnee State
All top-25 teams qualified for nationals. Teams not in the top 25 which qualified were Bethel (Tenn.), Cal State San Marcos, Huston-Tillotson, Langston, Loyola, Southern Poly and William Woods.
Xavier is one of 15 schools whose women's and men's teams qualified for nationals. The other schools are Cal State San Marcos, Columbia (Mo.), Cumberlands, Freed-Hardeman, Georgetown (Ky.), Hope International, MidAmerica Nazarene, Montana State-Northern, Oklahoma Baptist, Talladega, Vanguard, Wayland Baptist, Westminster (Utah) and Wiley.
2014 NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship Bracket
By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information DirectorXULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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