Nuggets lead in both halves but lose at UL Lafayette

Paige Gauthier
17 Points, 10 Rebounds

LAFAYETTE, Louisiana -- Xavier University of Louisiana gained leads in both halves but lost 62-54 Sunday at Louisiana-Lafayette in women's basketball.

Paige Gauthier's 17 points and season-high 10 rebounds led the Gold Nuggets (4-5), who are ranked 15th in NAIA Division I. Whitney Gathright scored 11 points, and Danielle Tucker and Whitney Gaston-Loyd had eight apiece.

Gauthier, a senior guard playing approximately 75 miles from her hometown of Lake Charles, La., produced Xavier's first double-double of the season and the third of her career. Gauthier scored 10 of the Nuggets' first 19 points.

Sylvana Okde scored 19 points and Braile Fields 11 for the Ragin' Cajuns (4-2), and both made three 3-pointers. Adrienne Prejean grabbed 11 rebounds.

The Gold Nuggets scored the first five points and led 16-7 after Gaston-Loyd's basket in the sixth minute. Okde and Brooklyn Arceneaux scored four points apiece in an 18-0 run which gave the Cajuns a 30-19 with 2:15 remaining in the half, but Xavier closed the margin to 31-25 by halftime.

A Fields 3-pointer gave the Cajuns a 34-25 lead with 18:42 remaining, but Xavier rallied again. The Nuggets tied the score at 34 on Gaston-Loyd's basket and took a pair of 1-point leads, the last on Gathright's basket at 12:16 to make it 40-39.

UL Lafayette took the lead for good with a 13-4 run, but Xavier cut the margin to 52-50 on Gaston-Loyd's basket with 2:54 remaining. The Nuggets did not get any closer, committing a turnover with a chance to tie and missing the front end of a 1-and-1 while trailing 55-52.

The Cajuns outshot the Nuggets 36 to 34.5 percent from the floor and outscored them 18-9 in free throws. Xavier had a 5-1 advantage in blocked shots -- two apiece for Gaston-Loyd and Chelsea Broussard -- and was plus-4 in turnovers.

It was the teams' first meeting since the 1988-89 season. It was Xavier's first regular-season road game against an NCAA Division I opponent since winning at Northwestern State in November 2007.

Xavier will visit city rival Loyola at 7 p.m. Tuesday and play its next home game at 5:30 p.m. Thursday against Mobile.

Box score

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA

Hampton Volleyball Draws Stanford in NCAA Tourney

NCAA Tournament Bracket

HAMPTON, Virginia – The Hampton University volleyball team will make its first appearance in the NCAA Div. I Volleyball Championships on Thursday, when the Lady Pirates square off against Stanford in Maples Pavilion at 10 p.m. EST.

Stanford (24-5) is the overall No. 7 seed in the tournament.

The Lady Pirates (19-10), in their first season under head coach Karen Weatherington, won their first-ever MEAC Tournament crown on Nov. 17 with a five-set win over Coppin State in Baltimore, Md. Junior rightside Vendula Strakova (Brno, Czech Republic), the MEAC Player of the Year, was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Heading into the NCAA Tournament, Strakova leads the nation in points (6.59 per set), is second in kills (5.64 per set), and is fourth in aces (0.60 per set).

Hampton leads the nation as a team with 1.99 aces per set.

Stanford is one of nine Pac-12 schools to earn bids to this year's tournament, and the Cardinal have won their last five matches – including a 3-1 win over Cal this past Friday. The Cardinal were ranked third in the latest AVCA national poll.

The Cardinal boast five players averaging better than 2.50 kills per set – led by senior middle blocker Carly Wopat's 2.89 kills per set. She is also Stanford's top hitter, coming in at .438 (275 kills, 47 errors in 520 attacks) for the season to rank seventh in the nation. Sophomore outside hitter Brittany Howard is averaging 2.82 kills per set.

Sophomore setter Madi Bugg averages 11.88 assists per set for Stanford, and she has a team-high 32 service aces.

Hampton has never faced Stanford. This will also the Lady Pirates' first-ever match against a Pac-12 foe.

For more information on Hampton University volleyball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.


COURTESY HAMPTON UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

Hampton Lady Pirates Beat Santa Clara, Win CSUN Tourney Title

NORTHRIDGE, California  –  For the second straight day, freshman guard Malia Tate-DeFreitas and senior forward Alyssa Bennett had monster games, and on Saturday, it netted the Hampton University women's basketball team the Cal State Northridge Radisson Hotel Chatsworth Thanksgiving Classic.

The Lady Pirates (5-2) won the title by defeating Santa Clara 70-48.

Bennett (Hampton, Va.) was named Tournament MVP after pouring in a career-high 31 points (20 in the second half) on 14-for-30 shooting to go along with seven rebounds. Tate-DeFreitas (Harrisburg, Pa.) was named to the All-Tournament Team after scoring 25 points.

Senior guard Nicole Hamilton (Hampton, Va.) dished out 11 assists (to go along with her eight points and seven rebounds), and redshirt-sophomore forward Brielle Ward (Baltimore, Md.) grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

The Lady Pirates got off to a slow start, as Santa Clara took an 11-5 lead with 15:41 left in the first half – and the Broncos later took a 16-7 lead at the 14:14 mark on a 3-pointer from Montana Walters.

But Hampton answered with a 15-2 run, storming back to take a 22-18 lead at the 9:15 mark after Hamilton scored on a fastbreak layup following a turnover. The Lady Pirates never trailed again, though Santa Clara cut the lead to 25-23 at the 6:14 mark on a Nici Gidlay jumper.

The Lady Pirates scored the next nine points, going up 34-23 on a Bennett layup with 3:25 left in the half, and Hampton went into the locker room up 37-25.

Tate-DeFreitas had 16 points at the break. Bennett was also in double figures at half with 11 points.

When Marie Bertholdt hit a jumper in the paint with 15:00 to play, it cut Hampton's lead to 43-35 – but the Broncos would get no closer the rest of the night, and the Lady Pirates answered with an 8-0 run, taking a 51-35 lead with 12:45 to play on a Bennett jumper.

Bertholdt cut the lead to 53-41 with two free throws with 7:34 to play, before Hampton scored the next 15 points – including 10 straight from Bennett – to take a 68-41 lead with 3:53 left to play. Tate-DeFreitas scored the first five points of that run before Bennett went on her five-field goal tear.

Bennett and Tate-DeFreitas accounted for all 13 of Hampton's second-half field goals.

The Lady Pirates shot 37.5 percent (27-for-27) from the floor and hit seven of their 20 3-pointers (35.0 percent). Hampton also went 9-for-12 (75.0 percent) from the free throw line and out-rebounded Santa Clara 45-40.

Hampton also scored 19 points off of 21 Santa Clara turnovers.

The Broncos (2-5) shot just 34.5 percent (19-for-55) from the floor, but only managed eight field goals in the second half. Santa Clara only made two of its 18 3-pointers (11.1 percent) and eight of its 15 free throws (53.3 percent).

Nici Gidlay led the Broncos with 15 points.

The Lady Pirates will return to the HU Convocation Center on Wednesday to take on American at 7 p.m. For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.

Box Score

COURTESY HAMPTON UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

from THE EDITOR Dwight Floyd: To Those Who Think It’s Okay

Some rights reserved by JotaCePe/CC

To the Athletes, Rappers, Bloggers and Other Entertainers Who All Say It's Okay

TALLAHASSEE, Florida  -- One of my favorite books is The Crisis of the Intellectual Negro by Harold Cruse. I discovered this book while attending a class as a political science major at Florida A&M University. We studied it for an entire semester and the class so inspired me that in 1998, I attended a conference held in Harold Cruse’s honor at the University of Michigan. There, I presented a paper advocating the use of a strategic planning model to address the current status of black America. My panel of three was the only session Cruse sat in on during the whole two day conference, and in response to my writing and that of another writer he spoke directly to us. It wasn’t that my paper was all that profound, but he knew from my writing that I was properly influenced by his ideas.

Cruse’s text illustrates the crisis that black America faced during the first half of the twentieth century. Cruse defined it as a crisis of identity. The stereotype is that black people are unified and that we stick together. That idea probably comes from our strong response to oppression during the civil rights movement of the 1950’s. In any case, what Cruse shows instead is how difficult it is for black Americans to relate to each other and to identify with a particular culture. All you have to do is look at the writings of Cruse, W.E.B. Dubois, George Washington Carver, Booker T. Washington, and E. Franklin Frazier to see the contrast in ideas and the divide even then between the haves and have-nots.

CONTINUE READING

2013 Bayou Classic Battle of the Bands: Southern vs. Grambling

Daniels scores career-high 18, but Gold Rush lose 63-62

MEMPHIS, Tennessee -- Sophomore RJ Daniels scored a career-high 18 points for Xavier University of Louisiana, but the Gold Rush lost 63-62 at LeMoyne-Owen in men's basketball Saturday.

Daequan Mitchell-Fie's 3-pointer with seven seconds remaining gave the Magicians (1-2) the victory.

Morris Wright scored 16 points and Xavier Rogers 13 for the Gold Rush (5-3), ranked 19th in NAIA Division I, and Olivier Siewe and Wesley Pluviose-Philip grabbed eight rebounds apiece.

Marcel Hawkins scored 16 points for LeMoyne-Owen, an NCAA Division II member, and Jerry Hampton had 12 points, seven rebounds and six blocked shots.

Daniels scored 15 second-half points, 13 in the final 10½ minutes. His 3-pointer with 3:26 remaining gave Xavier a 57-55 advantage and its first lead in approximately 25 minutes. Daniels' basket at 1:45 gave the Gold Rush a 61-56 lead.

Baskets by the Magicians' Daquavion McCants and Nick McHenry -- the second on a fast break after Hampton blocked a shot -- cut Xavier's lead to 61-60 with a minute remaining. Siewe was fouled after two offensive rebounds and made 1-of-2 free throws with 25 seconds remaining, then LeMoyne-Owen regained the lead on its final possession.

Mitchell-Fie was fouled while making his winning 3-pointer. He missed the free throw and Siewe rebounded, then Wright missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

LeMoyne-Owen outshot Xavier 46.7 to 41.2 percent from the floor. Xavier committed a season-low 12 turnovers and had a 35-34 rebound advantage.

Daniels scored in double figures for the second straight game and the fourth time this season, one more than he did in 2012-13. Wright reached double figures for the fifth consecutive game and was 6-of-11 from the floor -- the seventh time in eight games he shot 50 percent or higher. Rogers made three of Xavier's season-high-tying seven 3-pointers, increased his streak of made free throws to 13 and reached double figures for the fifth time.

Xavier will play NAIA No. 10 William Carey (4-0) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at XU's Convocation Center.

Box score

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 

Washington's game-winner spirals MVSU Delta Devils to victory

COURTESY MVSU ATHLETICS DELTA DEVILS

WEST LONG BRANCH, New Jersey  --  It was deja vu Saturday for Mississippi Valley State.

Friday night, the Delta Devils watched as they tied the game up before Monmouth sprinted down the court to win the game on a last-second layup.

And on Saturday, Valley found itself in the same predicament.

Only this time, the Delta Devils came away with a game-winning layup thanks to freshman guard Jordan Washington and an Anthony McDonald steal to seal a 90-89 win for a Valley team that has started to find its rhythm.

Five MVSU players scored in double-figures, led by McDonald who had 21 including 18 in the first half. He made 5-of-6 three-point attempts and converted all four free throw attempts. James Currington added a career-high 17 points and five rebounds while Cameron Dobbs chipped in 15 off the bench, including a trio of three-pointers.

Daniel Hurtt scored 13 points in the second half off the bench for the Delta Devils, who shot 46.6 from the field. Hurtt scored nine points in the final eight minutes that kept MVSU alive.

The game included 19 lead changes.

McDonald was named to the All-Tournament Team.

The Delta Devils will be back in action next Saturday, Dec. 7 when they host Tougaloo College at 4 p.m. at the Leflore County Civic Center.

COURTESY MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION