Four XULA Teams Competed on Wednesday

Women's Basketball: XULA, leading by four at halftime at home against Philander Smith in the opening round of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament, outscored the Lady Panthers 26-8 in the third quarter and cruised to a 76-53 victory. Da'Jha Virgil scored a career-high-tying 20 points, and Victory Udechi missed one shot in a 15-point, seven-rebound performance. XULA (10-6), winner of a season-high four straight, will play top-seeded Rust in the semifinals Saturday at Jacksonville, Fla.

Softball: XULA's first-year team lost 8-0, then 10-4 at NAIA No. 7 Mobile in Mobile, Ala. In the second game Mecolett Bradley and Destyn Jones doubled for XULA, and Jones had two RBIs, XULA is 2-5, and Mobile is 3-4. XULA's home debut will be Saturday at 2 p.m. against NAIA No. 12 William Carey at the softball facility at Wesley Barrow Stadium. 

Men's Basketball: XULA and Tougaloo played overtime for the second time this season, and this time XULA survived with a 77-74 victory in the opening round of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament at XULA's Convocation Center. Rayshawn Mart scored 27 points and TJ Jones 20 for XULA, which will play sixth-seeded Philander Smith in the semifinals Saturday at Jacksonville, Fla.

Men's Tennis: XULA dropped its fourth straight, 5-2 at the University of New Orleans, XULA (1-4) did not win the doubles point, but Juan Ramirez and Juan Varon rallied from a 4-1 deficit to win 6-4 on the second court.. XULA got singles victories from NAIA All-Americans Santiago Perez on court one and Shaikh Abdullah on court three. 

And What's More: Through 11 p.m. Wednesday XULA collected approximately two-thirds of the nearly 600 votes against Kentucky State in the championship round of a Twitter fan poll conducted by T3 Bracketology (@Tbracketology). The poll question: "Which HBCU arena has the best environment?" Voting will conclude at 8:30 a.m. CST Thursday; you can vote on Twitter by visiting https://twitter.com/TBracketology/status/1363858517850001414. Visit xulagold.com for much more about XULA Athletics.

Ed Cassiere, Associate Athletics Director for Strategic Communications
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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