Gold Nuggets win on road again after trailing by 17

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- For the second time this season, Xavier University of Louisiana's women's basketball team has won on the road after trailing by 17 points.

The Gold Nuggets (9-2), ranked 21st in NAIA Division I, rallied in the final 11 minutes Saturday for a 62-60 victory against Faulkner.

Whitney Gathright scored 23 points for Xavier, 13 during the rally. Donyeah Mayfield scored 14, and Joi Simmons had 10.

Xavier missed its first 13 field-goal attempts of the game and its first 12 attempts of the second quarter, and the Gold Nuggets trailed 44-27 after Brandy Alley made 1-of-2 free throws for Faulkner at 1:16 of the third quarter. But Xavier outscored Faulkner 35-16 thereafter, getting eight points from Mayfield, seven from Mikayla Bates and six from Simmons. The Gold Nuggets pressed extensively on defense and scored 17 points from 11 turnovers during the rally.

Mayfield's basket with 36 seconds remaining put the Gold Nuggets ahead to stay, 60-58, and Gathright made a pair of free throws with two seconds to play to make it 62-58.

Xavier's other comeback from 17 down was Nov. 14 in a 91-86 overtime victory against NAIA No. 7 Our Lady of the Lake in the LSUS Classic at Shreveport, La.

China Leary scored 14 points and Alley 11 for the Lady Eagles (4-5), who led for nearly 35 1/2 minutes. Xavier led for just 89 seconds, all in the final two minutes.

Xavier shot a season-low 25 percent from the floor, making 20-of-80 attempts -- 5-of-45 in the first half. Faulkner shot 36 percent. Xavier committed 15 turnovers and gained a season-high 34.

"Call us the cardiac kids," XU coach Bo Browder said. "This is a tough group. They stay positive when we get behind. They don't mind battling through some things. We got shots we wanted, but they wouldn't fall. Our shooting was so awful. We missed 2-footers, we missed 5-footers. We had 15-footers that went in and came out. So we had to win it with our defense."

Browder is 399-144 in 17 seasons as Xavier's coach. Including 10 games as interim coach at Evansville in 1995-96, Browder's record at 4-year colleges is 401-152 in 18 seasons.

It was the Gold Nuggets' sixth consecutive victory. They'll break for semester exams next week, then resume their schedule Dec. 17 against Indiana Wesleyan, ranked 10th in NAIA Division II, in the Cruzin at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

BOX SCORE

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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