Gold Nuggets climb to 19th in NAIA postseason rankings

NEW ORLEANS -- Xavier University of Louisiana moved up one spot to 19th in the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Postseason Top 25 poll on Wednesday.

The Gold Nuggets were 24-10 in 2013-14, won the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament and upset defending champion Westmont 66-53 in the opening round of the national tournament on March 19. Xavier lost 59-55 to Campbellsville in the second round.

This is the fifth consecutive year and the 11th time in the last 13 seasons that Xavier appears in the final top 25 of the season. This is the third straight year that the final poll occurred after the national tournament.

GCAC regular-season champion Talladega ranked 25th.

National champion Oklahoma City was a unanimous No. 1. Xavier lost 72-70 in overtime at Oklahoma City on Nov. 29.

The top 25:

NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Postseason Top 25 Poll (first-place votes in parentheses — records through end of season) Rank Team Record Points Last 1 Oklahoma City (10) 27-4 250 5 2 Freed-Hardeman 36-2 242 2 3 Vanguard 27-2 229 1 4 Westminster (Utah) 26-3 221 3 5 Campbellsville 32-4 219 4 6 Wiley 30-5 218 11 7 John Brown 28-8 200 19 8 Our Lady of the Lake 27-5 189 9 9 Oklahoma Baptist 29-6 183 6 10 Georgetown (Ky.) 21-9 175 8 11 Baker 27-7 166 12 12 The Master's 24-9 157 7 13 MidAmerica Nazarene 28-4 151 14 14 Columbia (Mo.) 26-8 141 10 15 Loyola 23-12 134 RV 16 Bethel (Tenn.) 23-11 133 RV 17 Lewis-Clark State 27-6 130 15 18 Westmont 20-10 117 13 19 Xavier 24-10 116 20 20 Montana State-Northern 22-10 96 21 21 Shawnee State 20-13 87 25 22 Hope International 23-10 82 16 23 Lyon 24-9 75 17 24 Wayland Baptist 20-12 62 18 25 Talladega 26-5 59 22 Others receiving votes: Cumberlands 47, Mobile 46, Langston 36, Southern Poly , William Woods 16, Martin Methodist 9.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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