NEW ORLEANS -- Junior point guard Whitney Gathright scored 18 points Monday to lead NAIA No. 19 Xavier University of Louisiana to a 64-49 women's basketball victory against Faulkner.
The Gold Nuggets (7-4) won their fifth in a row and snapped the three-game winning streak of the Lady Eagles (8-3).
Gathright, the preseason Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year, also had seven rebounds, four assists and a career-high-tying five steals. She was 8-of-11 from the floor and committed one turnover in 32 minutes.
Eliqua Brooks made four 3-pointers and scored 13 points for Xavier, and Vinnie Briggs scored 12.
Taylor Love had 15 points and 14 rebounds and was Faulkner's only double-figure scorer. Olivia Adamson grabbed 12 rebounds.
Gathright scored 14 points and Brooks 10 to help Xavier take a 37-24 halftime lead. The Gold Nuggets built the lead to 21 points, 58-37, when Gathright passed to Briggs for a basket with 3:06 remaining.
Faulkner scored less than 50 points for just the fourth time in the program's five seasons. The Lady Eagles entered the game No. 2 in NAIA Division I with 10.1 made 3-pointers per game, but Xavier limited them to 2-of-17 from long range.
For the game, Xavier outshot Faulkner 33.3 to 28.6 percent from the floor. Faulkner had a 52-38 rebounding advantage, but the Gold Nuggets were plus-21 in turnovers, committing seven -- matching their fewest in a game in the last three years -- and gaining a season-best 28. Ireyon Keith had four steals, and Brooks had three.
Xavier will fly Tuesday to Florida and play Wednesday against Briar Cliff (Iowa) and Thursday against Northwood (Fla.) in the Cruzin Classic at West Palm Beach. Both games will start at 2 p.m. EST at Northwood's Hoernle Student Life Center.\
Ed Cassiere, Sports Information
Director
No comments:
Post a Comment