No. 22 Xavier Rolls Past Lady Badgers, 78-43

The No. 22 ranked Xavier University-New Orleans Gold Nuggets avenged a 71-68 January upset at the hands of the Spring Hill College by rolling past the Lady Badgers 78-43 on Thursday evening.  Xavier (22-5, 12-3 GCAC) jumped out to an early 23-8 lead before the Badgers rebounded to cut the spread to seven at 26-19 with 4:08 on the first half clock.

A 3-point shot at the buzzer by Xavier’s Jarryn Cleaves stretched the spread to 34-21 at intermission, but SHC responded well and sliced the lead to nine at 36-27 just two minutes into the second half.  The Gold Nuggets then launched a seven-minute 16-1 run to 52-28 that effectively ruined any hopes of an upset repeat by the Lady Badgers.

Junior Keisha Forbes and freshman Lynleigh Hughes each scored nine points for the Lady Badgers (5-20, 4-11 GCAC) with Forbes adding a game-high eight rebounds.  Xavier was led by Cleaves with 18 points and Shayla Boyd contributed 10 points.  Brittany Whitmore had seven rebounds for Xavier.

Turnovers once again haunted Spring Hill as the ladies committed 27 turnovers resulting in 31 points for Xavier.  Xavier also pulled in 18 offensive rebounds and converted them into 22 second-chance points.  Overall, Xavier pulled in 37 rebounds and SHC had 36 boards.

The Lady Badgers travel to Shreveport, La., on Saturday to play LSU-Shreveport in a conference match up beginning at 2:00 p.m.