Nuggets receive votes in 1st regular-season ranking

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana, voteless in the previous seven NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 polls, collected 10 points Tuesday to tie for 30th in the first regular-season ranking of the 2018-19 season.

The Gold Nuggets are 9-3 after a 60-57 home victory Monday against Mobile to give them their second four-game win streak this season. XULA's most notable victories were 59-47 Friday at Southeastern Louisiana — the Nuggets' first victory since 2007 against an NCAA Division I opponent — and 67-64 at home Nov. 6 against city rival Loyola, ranked 17th in the preseason poll.
The Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, of which XULA is a member, made one of its best showings in the poll in recent years. For the first time since March 9, 2016, the GCAC has two top-25 teams — Talladega is 15th, Dillard 25th — and three GCAC teams received points for the first time since Oct. 25, 2016.

It's the first time since Jan. 21, 2014, that three GCAC teams received points in a regular-season poll.
The Gold Nuggets will begin semester exams Wednesday. They will resume their schedule at 2 p.m. Dec. 15 at Louisiana-Lafayette.

For the first time in five years, the No. 1 team in the preseason is No. 1 in the first regular-season poll. That's Vanguard (7-0), which received 7-of-9 first-place votes and edged defending champion Freed-Hardeman (9-0) by five points. Wayland Baptist (6-0) is third.

NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses — records through Dec. 2)
RANK PREVIOUS SCHOOL RECORD POINTS
1 1 Vanguard (Calif.) (7) 7-0 218
2 5 Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) (2) 9-0 213
3 6 Wayland Baptist (Texas) 6-0 201
4 4 Columbia (Mo.) 8-1 200
5 3 Campbellsville (Ky.) 6-1 194
6 12 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 9-1 183
7 2 Shawnee State (Ohio) 8-2 176
8 7 Carroll (Mont.) 6-2 173
9 9 Montana Western 4-0 160
10 10 Oklahoma City 8-1 150
11 8 Westmont (Calif.) 6-2 148
12 15 Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) 5-1 147
13 18 Providence (Mont.) 7-2 133
14 16 Menlo (Calif.) 7-0 132
15 NR Talladega (Ala.) 10-1 119
16 21 Bethel (Tenn.) 9-2 114
17 13 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 6-3 101
18 24 Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 8-1 98
19 20 Lyon (Ark.) 6-1 95
20 RV William Penn (Iowa) 8-1 93
21 22 Arizona Christian 6-4 77
22 14 The Master's (Calif.) 5-3 76
23 NR Baker (Kan.) 10-1 67
24 11 Central Methodist (Mo.) 6-3 59
25 RV Dillard (La.) 8-3 40
Others receiving votes: Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 39, William Woods (Mo.) 32, Mid-America Christian (Okla.) 31, LSU-Alexandria (La.) 15, Xavier (La.) 10, Clarke (Iowa) 10, Huston-Tillotson (Texas) 9, William Jessup (Calif.) 6, Faulkner (Ala.) 3, Georgetown (Ky.) 3

Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletics Director for Communications
Department of Athletics & Recreation
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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