Nuggets open season Thursday with plenty of newcomers

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's 40th women's basketball season of the Title IX era will tip off Thursday with several newcomers joining 10 returning letterwinners.
     
\New to the Gold Nuggets — who will travel to city rival Loyola for a 6 p.m. game at The Den — and receiving athletic aid in 2017-18 are:

     •  Alexis Burke, a 5-foot-7 guard/forward from Powder Springs, Ga., and McEachern High School. She's a pre-pharmacy major at XULA.
     •  Adriana Fernandez, a 5-11 forward from Sont Quirze del Valles, Spain, and Institut Sont Quirze del Valles. She is majoring in mathematics.
     •  Taylor Jacob, a 5-2 guard from New Iberia, La., and New Iberia Senior High School. Her XULA major is public health sciences.
     •  Taylor Jones, a 5-7 guard from Ellenwood, Ga., and Decatur High School. Jones is a biology major, and she hopes to attend dental school.
     •  DeDe Martinez, a 6-3 center/forward from New Orleans, Edna Karr High School and the University of Alabama. Martinez is majoring in mass communications.
     •  Nahrie Pierce, a 5-10 guard/forward from San Francisco, St. Ignatius College 
Preparatory and City College of San Francisco. Her XULA major is public health sciences, and she hopes to own a physical therapy clinic.

Martinez is a junior, and Pierce is a sophomore. Burke, Fernandez, Jacob and Jones are freshmen.
     
Loyola is ranked 20th in NAIA Division I. XULA's second game will be its home opener at 1 p.m. Sunday against Southeastern (Fla.), ranked fourth in NAIA Division II and 28-1 last season. The Gold Nuggets, 19-13 last season, are among others receiving votes in NAIA DI.
     
NOTES:  Pierce is expected to miss the season after suffering an injury Sunday during practice . . . Freshman walk-ons on the roster are forward Alexis Bridges of Ontario, Calif., and Chaffey High School and guard Nicole Swift of Torrance, Calif., and Redondo Union High School. Bridges is a biology / pre-medical major, and Swift is a dual degree physics and engineering major . . . XULA, 14-4 in openers under head coach Bo Browder, will meet Loyola in an opener for the first time. But it's the 40th overall meeting between the Gold Nuggets and the Wolf Pack.

Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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