Sunday, March 4, 2018

Nuggets' season ends after rare GCAC semifinal defeat

NEW ORLEANS — The Xavier University of Louisiana women's basketball team picked the wrong time to finally cool off.

The Gold Nuggets shot 31.3 percent from the floor and lost 73-65 at home to Edward Waters in the semifinals of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament.

It was the first loss in eight games for XULA (15-12), whose season ended Saturday. The Gold Nuggets had shot at least 40 percent from the floor in its previous four games, a season high.
It also was the first loss in XULA's last eight GCAC semifinals. The Gold Nuggets had not lost in that round since 2009. They defeated Edward Waters in the 2015 ad 2016 semifinals.

The Gold Nuggets made six of their first 12 shots from the floor in building a 13-2 lead, then shot 27 percent the remainder of the game. But XULA stayed close, trailing 30-28 at halftime and 46-45 after three quarters. Then the Lady Tigers outscored the Gold Nuggets 10-2 to start the fourth quarter; that run included 3-pointers by Lashe Kirkland and Brittany Rowell.

BOX SCORE

Mia Leite led Edward Waters (25-5) with 15 points. Laquanza Glover had 14 points and 15 rebounds, Rowell had 13 points and nine rebounds, and Brittany Thompson had 12 points, six rebounds and seven assists.
D
asia Pitre scored 15 points for XULA, and Maya Trench barely missed her second triple-double of the season — the 5-foot-2 sophomore point had 14 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds and four steals. It was the final XULA game for senior center Angelle Simon, a two-year Nugget who started and had two points, two rebounds and two blocks in nearly 10 minutes.

Edward Waters shot 35.5 percent from the floor, outrebounded the Gold Nuggets 49-43 and made 21-of-30 free throws to XULA's 14-of-23. The Lady Tigers advanced to a GCAC final for the first time and will play regular-season champion Dillard at 1 p.m. Sunday at XULA.

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