Collins' 3-pointer gives Dillard its first victory of season

NEW ORLEANS — Reserve guard Brianne Collins' 3-pointer with five seconds remaining Thursday lifted Dillard to a 77-76 overtime women's basketball victory against Rust in the opening game of the Xavier Classic.

The Lady Bleu Devils (1-2) outscored Rust 6-1 in the final 67 seconds after Rust took its biggest lead, 75-71, on an Al'Lisha Hudson basket.

Jasmine Bradley preserved the victory by stealing Kala Williams' pass near midcourt on the final play.

Ariel Mitchell scored 14 points, Jazzmin Smith 13 and Lauren Daniel 10 for Dillard, which never trailed in regulation. Collins finished with a season-high seven points, and the 3-pointer was just her second in 12 attempts this season.

Williams scored 18 points, Jessica Brown 17 and Hudson 13 for Rust (2-5), an NCAA Division III member. Dillard is an NAIA member.

Daniel's free throw at 2:29 of the first half gave Dillard its biggest lead, 32-18. The Lady Bleu Devils led 35-24 at halftime and 54-43 with 8:58 remaining in regulation. Rust forced overtime when Hudson's basket tied the score at 63 with nine seconds remaining. Another Hudson basket at 3:49 in overtime gave the Lady Bearcats their first lead, 67-66.

Rust outshot Dillard 50 to 34.7 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Lady Bleu Devils 48-43. Dillard outscored Rust 23-10 in free throws.

On Friday Rust will play Mobile at noon, and Dillard will play NAIA No. 19 Langston at 4 p.m.

Box Score

By Ed Cassiere,Sports Information Director

XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA ATHLETICS

Old Dominion meets Norfolk State in first round FCS action

Norfolk, Virginia -- Five miles separate the campuses of Norfolk State and Old Dominion, the idea of scheduling a series between the football programs was bound to happen one day. One day has come two years early.

The two schools were set to begin a six-year series in 2013 with the first game to have taken place at NSU. The Football Championship Series playoffs will give fans a preview of this series this weekend when the Spartans and Monarchs – both 9-2 – meeting the first round at Old Dominion’s S.B. Stadium.

This matchup will have that new car smell. NSU, champion of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, is playing its first FCS appearance. ODU, a first-year member of the Colonial Athletic Conference and in just its third year of playing football, is making its first playoff appearance.

Pete Adrian, NSU’s head coach, noted this week that there are no bad teams in the tournament at this point. But that his team is playing a rival, heck, a neighbor adds to the intensity. The rosters are loaded with local kids. The Spartans have 31 players from the area, while the Monarchs have 40 from the Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Portsmouth, Newport News, and Hampton communities.

“The excitement here on this campus has never been higher ...

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Undefeated foe, WSSU poses challenge for Cal U. Vulcans

California, Pennsylvania -- If California University's football team is going to advance in the NCAA Division II playoffs this weekend, it will have to overcome a handful of obstacles. First, a Winston-Salem State University team that is undefeated at 10-0 and top-seeded in the region is waiting for a 1 p.m. kickoff Saturday.

Second, the Vulcans will be leaving the confines of Adamson Stadium for the long bus trip to Winston, N.C., where the temperature change and expected crowd of 7,000 fans will make for a difficult place to win.

Finally, Cal will go into this game without head coach John Luckhardt, who will miss the game because of kidney stones and accompanying infection. Offensive coordinator Mike Kellar will run the offense and defensive coordinator Mike Conway will handle the defense.

Luckhardt is the winningest coach in Cal history and has guided the Vulcans into the Division II playoffs five consecutive seasons.

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WSSU Rams try to buck CIAA playoff history

Winston Salem, North Carolina -- CIAA teams have had limited success in the Division II football playoffs, but Winston-Salem State hopes to be the exception.  WSSU (11-0) will try to take its first step in that direction Saturday, when it plays California (Pa.) in a second-round game at 1 p.m. at Bowman Gray Stadium.

The CIAA started the postseason with a playoff record of 2-27 since 1978, then fell to 2-28 last weekend when California pounded Elizabeth City State 44-0.  Coach Connell Maynor said the CIAA's playoff history doesn't bother him.

"I think our guys are ready, and this is what we set out to do," he said. "We got our first goal out of the way, and that was to win the CIAA championship. The guys really believe that we can win four more football games."




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B-CU Wildcats turn 2011 football season around

Daytona Beach, Florida - Bethune-Cookman started the 2011 season resembling last year's offensive juggernaut when it dismantled Prairie View A&M 63-14 in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge in Orlando

But then the Wildcats lost three out of their next four games, turning the ball over 13 times. They went back to the drawing board, reinventing themselves as a running team and attacking opponents' backfields with a strong defensive front seven.

They won their final six games, ending with a 26-16 victory over Florida A&M on Saturday, to finish 8-3 overall, 6-2 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.  Though they didn't return to the playoffs, they added to the foundation head coach Brian Jenkins established in his first year in 2010 when B-CU won the MEAC championship and finished 10-2

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Achieving the dream of coaching

Charlotte, North Carolina -- The players call him "Coach Deanou can see DeAngelo Dean on the sideline at every Johnson C. Smith football game, making sure the team gets the right personnel into the game in third-and-long situations and conferring with other coaches like former Carolina Panther Mike Minter about the Golden Bulls’ defensive strategy.

For Coach Dean, the sideline feels like home. And every time he walks onto the field feels like a victory.

Dean, 24, has cerebral palsy - a neurological disorder that appears in infancy or early childhood and permanently affects body movement and muscle coordination. But that hasn’t stopped Dean from becoming a valued member of coach Steve Aycock’s J.C. Smith staff in 2011. Aycock was the one who took a chance on Dean to begin with, and the student assistant coach has surpassed expectations as the Division II Golden Bulls have posted one of their best seasons in years.

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Time off has not dulled WSSU's intensity

Winston Salem, North Carolina -- Third-ranked Winston-Salem State enjoyed some much-needed down time with a bye in the first round of the Division II football playoffs.

But coach Connell Maynor said Wednesday, while having lunch with his team in the school cafeteria, that the break doesn't mean the Rams have lost momentum. WSSU will be back in action Saturday, when it plays California (Pa.) in a second-round game at 1 p.m. at Bowman Gray Stadium.

"I really don't think we've lost that momentum from winning the CIAA," Maynor said. "We've got a good, solid football team that understands our goals and what we are trying to do. They understand that the off week was about staying in shape but getting healthy and concentrating on your books."

The Rams (11-0) are in unfamiliar territory ...

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