Gold Nuggets' 2016-17 roster includes 11 newcomers

NEW ORLEANS — The largest group of newcomers during the Bo Browder era — 11 student-athletes — is on the 2016-17 Xavier University of Louisiana women's basketball roster.
     
Those 11 will join five returning letterwomen and open the season at 5:30 p.m. Friday against Florida Memorial at XULA's Convocation Center. Browder, whose 412-154 record makes him the winningest in the program's history, is back for his 18th season as head coach.
     
New Gold Nuggets this season are:

     •  Aliyah Bell, a 5-foot-8 guard/forward from Pass Christian, Miss., Pass Christian High School and Jones County (Miss.) Junior College. She's a pre-pharmacy major at Xavier.
     •  Jordan Coleman, a 5-8 guard from Kansas City, Mo., and a pair of California schools: San Juan Hills High School and Irvine Valley College. She is majoring in business with a minor in mass communications.
     •  Rosie Davis, a 5-5 guard from Lancaster, Texas, and Duncanville High School. Her XULA major is business management.
     •  Jalyn Hodge, a 5-8 guard from Plano, Texas, and Plano West High School. Hodge is a biology/pre-medical major, and she hopes to become an orthopedic surgeon.
     •  Rexesha Hollis, a 5-9 guard from Spring, Texas, and Klein Collins High School. Hollis is majoring in political science.
     •  Dasha Pitre, a 6-foot forward/center from Lake Charles, La., and St. Louis Catholic High School. Her XULA major is accounting.
     •  Terriel Ross, a 5-9 guard/forward from Baton Rouge, La., University Lab School and Baton Rouge Community College. Ross is majoring in mass communications.
     •  Angelle Simon, a 6-2 center from Marrero, La., Edna Karr High School and Texas A&M-Commerce. She's majoring in mass communications.
     •  Gina Smith, a 5-11 forward from Atlanta, Ga., and Mays High School. She is majoring in public health.
     •  Maya Trench, a 5-2 guard from Edgard, La., and West St. John High School. Her XULA major is pre-pharmacy.
     •  Essence Wells, a 5-10 guard from Irving, Texas, and MacArthur High School. Wells is a business major.
     
Bell averaged 6.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game last season as a starter at Jones County. As a freshman she helped the Lady Bobcats finish second in the region. In high school Bell was all-district three times in basketball and once in volleyball. She averaged 15 points a game as a prep senior and helped Pass Christian reach the 4A South state quarterfinals.
     
Coleman was All-Orange Empire Conference in both her seasons at Irvine Valley. She averaged 10.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and three assists as a freshman and 8.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists as a sophomore. As a prep senior she was co-MVP of her league and became the first San Juan Hills girl to record a triple double (15 points, 10 assists, 10 steals).
     
Davis was a part-time starter at point guard her final two years at Duncanville, which was 39-0 last season, won the Texas Class 6A championship and ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today newspaper. Three times she was academic all-district.
    
 Hodge averaged 9.6 points, 2.8 rebounds and two assists a game last season and helped Plano West reach the quarterfinals (regional runner-up) of the Texas 6A state playoffs. She was all-district and had a high game of 26 points. Hodge is a cousin of UConn men's basketball head coach Kevin Ollie and former NFL wide receiver Arnaz Battle.
     
Hollis averaged 10.9 points last season, 12.8 as a junior and finished her Klein Collins varsity career with 1,059 points. She helped the Lady Tigers qualify for the 6A state playoffs each of her final two seasons. She was district offensive MVP as a senior and was academic all-district four times.
    
Pitre was a three-sport standout at St. Louis. She was all-district in basketball, softball and volleyball and a team captain in all three. She was a member of four state-playoff basketball teams and reached the Class 3A second round in 2013 and 2015. As a senior she averaged 13.9 points, 10.1 rebounds and three blocks. As a softball third baseman she batted .654 her senior year and was all-state.
    
Ross averaged 7.4 points and 2.7 rebounds last season for BRCC. She was Class 3A first-team all-state as a senior after averaging 14.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.8 steals and helping U-High win state and district championships.
     
Simon averaged 1.5 points and 1.7 rebounds and shot 50 percent from the floor for Texas A&M-Commerce as a sophomore. She averaged 3.1 points and 3.2 rebounds as a freshman at the College of Central Florida, a two-year school in Ocala, and had game highs of 11 points and eight rebounds.
     
Smith helped Mays finish second in Georgia's Class AAAAA state playoffs her junior season. She was chosen to the Atlanta City of Champions All Star Classic following her senior year. Her brother, Garrison Smith, is a defensive tackle with the NFL's Seattle Seahawks.
     
Trench averaged 19.2 points, six assists and three steals for West St. John last season and was second-team all-state in Class 2A. She scored more than 2,000 career points. As a junior she was the NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune Small Schools Player of the Year and first-team all-state in Class 1A. Trench was second-team all-state in 1A as a sophomore.
     
Wells made 91 3-pointers her final two seasons at Irving MacArthur, and as a junior she averaged 11.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.2 steals. She helped her team reach the 6A second round last season and the final 16 (regional semifinalist) her junior year. Wells' mother, Cassandra Lumpkins, was a standout basketball player at the University of New Orleans and was named to the Sun Belt Conference all-time team for its first 30 seasons. Wells' uncle, Tony Harris, was a conference player of the year at UNO and played in the NBA.
     
Returning Gold Nuggets are guards Mikayla Bates and Kelsey Joseph, center Kelsee Singleton, giuard/forward Ireyon Keith and forward/center Bianca Brown. Keith did not play in 2015-16 because of injury.
     
Friday's opener will be followed by a XULA men's game at 7:30 against Wayland Baptist. The Gold Nuggets will play host to Webber International at 3 p.m. Saturday.

2016-17 Xavier women's basketball signees
Name	Pos.	Ht.	Yr.*	Hometown	High School (College)
Aliyah Bell	G/F	5-8	Jr.	Pass Christian, Miss.	Pass Christian (Jones County JC)
Jordan Coleman	G	5-8	Jr.	Kansas City, Mo.	San Juan Hills (Irvine Valley JC)
Rosie Davis	G	5-5	Fr.	Lancaster, Texas	Duncanville
Jalyn Hodge	G	5-8	Fr.	Plano, Texas	Plano West
Rexesha Hollis	G	5-9	Fr.	Spring, Texas	Klein Collins
Dasha Pitre	F/C	6-0	Fr.	Lake Charles, La.	St. Louis Catholic
Terriel Ross	G/F	5-9	Jr.	Baton Rouge, La.	University Lab (Baton Rouge CC)
Angelle Simon	C	6-2	Jr.	Marrero, La.	Karr (Texas A&M-Commerce)
Gina Smith	F	5-11	Fr.	Atlanta, Ga.	Mays
Maya Trench	G	5-2	Fr.	Edgard, La.	West St. John
Essence Wells	G	5-10	Fr.	Irving, Texas	MacArthur
* athletic classification at Xavier in 2016-17 Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director XULAgold.com XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA  twitter.com/xulagold www.facebook.com/xulagold

Grambling's shutout as rare as a 'purple unicorn'

GRAMBLING, Louisiana — Shutouts in college football are rare.

How rare? Ask Grambling, which, up until a few days ago, hadn't recorded a shutout against a Division I team since 2008 when the Tigers blanked Alcorn State, 29-0.

The Tigers were able to pull one off over the weekend with a 70-0 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, a feat that prompted coach Broderick Fobbs to reach into his ever-growing bag of peculiar analogies.

"To get a shutout today, in 2016, in this day and age, it's almost like a purple unicorn. It's not done too often," Fobbs joked Monday.

It's not as rare as one would think, but it's still uncommon. A total of 47 games have been played by Southwestern Athletic Conference teams this year with five shutouts. That amounts to about 10 percent of games resulting in shutouts. Two have come in league play, and Grambling is responsible for one.

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S.C. State adjusting after first MEAC loss

ORAGEBURG, South Carolina -- The good news is that South Carolina State head football coach Buddy Pough believes his team had a good practice on Tuesday morning.

The bad news is that it may have taken Saturday’s 28-26 loss at Hampton – the Bulldogs first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference loss of the season – to get the team’s collective attention and focus for the stretch run in conference play.



That portion of the schedule continues this coming Saturday at conference unbeaten North Carolina A&T, in a 1 p.m. game.

The Bulldogs (now 3-4 overall, 3-1 in MEAC play) could have been one of the three MEAC teams still unbeaten entering this weekend (along with North Carolina Central), if not for the close loss in Virginia.

“It’s awfully disappointing in the fact that we didn’t win the football game,” Pough said on Tuesday at his weekly press conference. “The tough part about it was that we had all these opportunities.

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Howard University: Six Named To All-SWAC Team; Emilien & Hamilton Earn Individual Honors

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama  –  Six members of the Howard women's soccer team have earned 2016 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) All-Conference honors, as announced on Wednesday.

Sophomore Kendall Hamilton was named Defensive Player of the Year and junior Gabrielle Emilienwas voted Goalkeeper of the Year. Hamilton and Emilien were joined by Kela Gray, Noelle McCullom, Sara Vaughan and Carmen Suarez on the All-SWAC First Team.

Hamilton led Howard in minutes played (1,672) and helped anchor a Bison defensive unit that produced six shutouts, which tops the SWAC. She also started all 18 matches this season and it is the second time she has received All-SWAC honors.

Emilien led the conference with a .889 save percentage – which ranks sixth in the NCAA Division I standings – and recorded five shutouts while in goal. She finished the regular season with the 16^th-best goals against average in the nation (0.56).

Gray flourished in the second half of the season as she scored in eight of the last 11 games. She is making her second straight appearance on the All-SWAC First Team as she leads the squad with four game-winning goals. She tallied three points (1g, 1a) twice and posted the lone goal in Howard's 1-0 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff to clinch the 2016 SWAC Regular Season Championship.

McCullom has continued to find ways to score for the Bison as she topped the team with nine goals and 20 points. She recorded her first career hat trick on Oct. 21 when Howard defeated Grambling State, 6-0.

Vaughan started the last 12 games of the regular season for Howard. She tallied a goal in wins over Alcorn State and Jackson State, both of which were game-winners. She was also an important part of the Bison defense that kept six opponents scoreless. This is Vaughan's second time as an All-SWAC honoree after making the second team last year.

Suarez has been in the right place at the right time on many occasions throughout the season. She notched four assists and attempted 11 shots of her own.

Head coach Brent Leiba was selected as Coach of the Year for the third-straight season as he guided the Bison to a 12-4-2 overall record. Howard finished unbeaten in SWAC play with a 9-0-1 record. It is the first time in league history that the honor was voted on prior to the tournament.

The No. 1 seed Bison will begin play in the 2016 SWAC Tournament on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 11 a.m. ET against No. 8 seed Southern University.

HOWARD UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS

North Carolina A&T Cohen Makes It Five Straight

GREENSBORO, North Carolina  – Tarik Cohen has played in college football games for North Carolina A&T 42 separate weeks over the past four seasons. In 15 of those weeks, or roughly a third of the time he has been playing college football, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference has awarded him with a superlative.

This week is no different. For the fifth straight week, Cohen earned MEAC Offensive Player of the Week honors as he led the Aggies to a 42-17 win over Florida A&M, Saturday, Oct. 29. N.C. A&T had one other player earn honors for the Florida A&M performance as redshirt junior left tackle Brandon Parker picked up offensive lineman of the week accolades for the fourth time this season.

In each of the four previous weeks Cohen won offensive player of the week, he went for 256 yards and three touchdowns against Hampton (Sept. 29), he ran for 200 yards against Norfolk State and in the process broke the MEAC rushing record (Oct. 6), he became the first player in school history to run for 200 yards in three consecutive games by compiling 220 yards and three touchdowns against Bethune-Cookman (Oct. 15) and against Howard Cohen went for 133 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries.

He added a 45-yard touchdown reception to his day, his third career receiving TD. Cohen’s day against Howard helped him exceed 5,000 career rushing yards. There were only 25 players who had 5,000 career rushing yards coming into the 2016 season. Cohen also secured his fourth straight 1,000-yard season, becoming only the 10th player in FCS and second player in the MEAC, to ever accomplish the feat.

Against the Rattlers Cohen recorded the eighth three-touchdown day of his career and also ran for 145 yards on 17 carries including an 83-yard run. It was the 11th touchdown of his career than has gone for 70 yards or more.

Parker is the third different Aggie offensive lineman to earn offensive lineman of the week this season, joining center Darriel Mack (10/10) and right tackle Wes Cole (10/24). Parker captured the honor after wins over St. Augustine’s (9/5), Kent State (9/12), Bethune-Cookman (10/17) and Florida A&M (10/31).

Parker’s protection has helped the Aggies rank first in scoring offense, total offense and rushing offense in the conference. The Aggies also have the No. 1 rusher (Cohen), the most accurate passer (Lamar Raynard) and the player with the top passer efficiency rating (Raynard) in the league. Parker led all Aggie offensive linemen by grading out at 90 percent with five pancake blocks. Parker did not allow a hurry or a sack.

N.C. A&T (7-1, 5-0 MEAC) return to action this week as the face perennial MEAC power S.C. State (3-4, 3-1 MEAC) 1 p.m., Saturday at Aggie Stadium. The Aggies will be celebrating 16 seniors on Senior Day. The Senior Day ceremony starts at 12:30 p.m. Follow Aggies football on Twitter @ncat_football.  Follow Aggie Athletics on Facebook (@ncatathletics), Twitter (@ncataggies) and Instagram (@ncatathletics).



NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

Top Teams Hold Positions in HSRN Football Polls

HARTLY, Delaware  -- North Carolina A&T and Tuskegee maintained their first place positions after nine weeks in the HSRN Football Polls.

 

A&T, Grambling and N.C. Central held onto the top three spots in the FCS Poll.  Southern and Tennessee State switched positions to round out the top five.  Hampton’s MEAC conference win over S.C. State propelled the Pirates from tenth to seventh place.

 

Tuskegee and Winston Salem State were first and second in the Division II/NAIA poll for the second straight week.

 

Bowie State jumped from fifth to third with Virginia State and Albany State rounding out the top five.

 

Langston’s 133 point tally in the past two weeks coupled with a three-game winning streak and 5-2 record have earned the Lions the #10 spot in this week’s poll. 

 

Division I FCS
	School (First Place Votes)	Record	Pts	Last Week
1	North Carolina A&T (11)	7-1	119	1
2	Grambling State (1)	5-1	109	2
3	North Carolina Central	6-2	91	3
4	Southern U.	5-2	79	5
5	Tennessee State	5-3	69	4
6	Prairie View A&M	5-3	63	6
7	Hampton	4-4	43	10
8	Alcorn State	3-4	29	8
9	South Carolina State	3-4	21	7
10	Jackson State	3-5	16	9
	Others receiving votes
	Texas Southern, Bethune-Cookman, Alabama A&M, Alabama State

 

 

Division II/NAIA
	School (First Place Votes)	Record	Pts	Last Week
1	Tuskegee (10)	7-1	116	1
2	Winston-Salem State (1)	7-2	101	2
3	Bowie State	6-3	85	5
4	Virginia State	7-2	81	3
5	Albany State	5-3	59	6
6	Miles College	5-3	53	9
7	Virginia Union	5-4	45	4
8	Chowan	5-4	23	7
9	Kentucky State	4-5	21	8
10	Langston (1)	5-2	21	NR
	Others receiving votes
	Elizabeth City State, Lane, Shaw, Fort Valley State, Morehouse
	Clark Atlanta, Fayetteville State, Benedict

QB Kincade has Grambling offense rolling

GRAMBLING, Louisiana — DeVante Kincade stood in the pocket like a statue. It was almost as if he was on display for the 15,000 or so fans in attendance at Eddie Robinson Stadium.

For almost three hours Saturday, Kincade with the help from a sturdy Grambling offensive line, picked apart a helpless Arkansas-Pine Bluff defense. He launched deep balls with precision. He provided the right amount of touch on his intermediate passes. He let his receivers do the rest on short screen passes.

The end result was a masterful 457-yard, six-touchdown effort to pace Grambling's 70-0 pasting of Arkansas-Pine Bluff on homecoming. The Ole Miss transfer completed 23 of 26 passes to help the Tigers (5-1, 5-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference) extend their conference win streak to 14 games.

"Very, very dominant. I don't know. That's about as perfect as you can get unless you're going to be picky and say 26 of 26," Grambling coach Broderick Fobbs said. "In three quarters, I don't know what else you want him to do. That's a flawless performance if you ask me."

Known as a tough grader, Fobbs' words are noteworthy.

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Southern notebook: Dawson Odums still looking for signature performance, even after Alcorn State win

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- Southern is riding a five-game winning streak, but coach Dawson Odums is still looking for his team to turn in its best effort.

Don’t get Odums wrong; he’s pleased with the way his team is playing overall. But there are still teaching moments when looking back at the film.

When looking at the tape from Saturday's 41-33 win at Alcorn State, Odums saw a Jekyll and Hyde performance.



“In spurts Saturday, we played lights out,” Odums said. “(But) we were up with a chance to go up 38-13. Instead, we get the ball down around the 35 and come away with no points.”

Odums was likely referring to the Jaguars’ second drive of the second half, when they started with the ball at Alcorn State’s 22-yard line after a 67-yard punt return by Willie Quinn. Southern was in great position to extend its lead to 38-13, but instead it ran four plays and turned the ball over on downs. On the next play, Alcorn State’s Lenorris Footman raced for an 83-yard touchdown.

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27th annual Fountain City Classic returns to Columbus this weekend

COLUMBUS, Georgia -- he Albany State Golden Rams and the Fort Valley State Wildcats are gearing up to clash in the 27th Annual Fountain City Classic.

The FCC is a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) game where the winner will advance to the SIAC Championship Game as Eastern Division Champs.

The game will be played in Columbus, GA at the A.J. McClung Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 5 at 2 p.m. EST.

Bragging rights and pride are at stake as well.

The game is expected to attract a sellout crowd of 15,000 fans to witness what is considered one of the biggest, bitterest and oldest football rivalries in black college football.

Another 30,000 fans will be gathering for the FCC tailgating activities, one of the largest events held at South Commons during the year.

The game will be broadcast live via radio. Columbus-based radio station WOKS 1340-AM is providing live radio broadcast as well as radio station WJIZ 98.1 FM in Albany.