JACKSONVILLE, Florida — Three Xavier University of Louisiana student-athletes, including Player of the Year Jas Hill, received 2018-19 women's basketball end-of-season awards Thursday from the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference.Awards were presented at a banquet on the eve of the GCAC Tournament for women and men. XULA's Gold Nuggets (23-6) are top-seeded and will play eighth-seeded SUNO (6-22) at 5 p.m. EST Friday.
Hill, a 5-foot-7 junior guard/forward from Mobile, Ala., and a former LeFlore High School and Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College standout, is the Gold Nuggets' ninth conference player of the year and the first since Christina Warren in 2010-11.
The Gold Nuggets' additional awards:
• Hill, first-team all-conference.
• Essence Wells (5-10 junior guard, Irving, Texas), second-team all-conference for the second consecutive year.
• Mikayla Bates (5-7 senior guard, Baton Rouge, La.), All-Defensive team for the second consecutive year. Bates is the first XULA woman to be named All-Defensive twice.
Hill averages 15 points and 4.8 rebounds per game and has 34 made 3s, 10 blocks and 43 steals.
Wells averages 8.8 points and has 34 made 3s, 10 blocks and 26 steals. Wells averaged 17.8 points in the final four regular-season games, all as a reserve.
Bates leads XULA with 51 steals and 158 rebounds. She is the seventh Gold Nugget to reach 600 points, 400 rebounds, 200 assists and 200 steals in a career.
Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletics Director for Communications
Department of Athletics & Recreation
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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