Box Score
New Orleans, LA-Xavier University opened the first half with a 16-2 run and never looked back defeating the Belhaven women's basketball team Monday night 56-49. The loss ended a two game winning streak by the Lady Blazers and sends their overall record to 15-9 and 6-6 in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference. The Gold Nuggets improve to 17-7 overall and now stand at 8-4 in conference play.

 

Xavier scored the opening bucket of the game on a field goal by LaTashia Wise 11 seconds into the contest. With the Gold Nuggets leading 4-0, Belhaven got their first basket at the 17:15 mark of the first half after an offensive rebound by Mallory Hammack who then fed the ball to Jira Williams for a two point field goal.

                                                                                              

Unfortunately, the Lady Blazers would not score again until a Courtney Ward basket with 11:41 remaining in the opening half. The score at that point was 16-4 and quickly became 18-4 on another Xavier basket by Danielle Jones with 11:22 to go before the break. Belhaven outscored Xavier 12-11 over the final 11 minutes to go into the locker room facing a 29-16 halftime deficit. Belhaven hit just 28 percent of their shots from the field in the first half.

 

The Lady Blazers came out in the second half and put three quick points on the board on a basket and free throw by Jaelyn Stringer, but also surrendered a two point field goal to Xavier running the score to 31-19 with 19:20 left to play. The Gold Nuggets then opened up their largest advantage of the night on a Shayla Boyd basket to make it 37-21 with 15:49 left in the game. The Lady Blazers then countered with a 9-2 run which was capped off by a pair of LaTessia Lee free throws to trim the deficit to 39-30.

 

The Gold Nuggets quickly pushed their lead back to double digits at 44-32, but Belhaven refused to go away quietly. The Lady Blazers continued to chip away at the Xavier lead and managed to pull within five points of the Gold Nuggets when Holly Dial connected from three point land to make it 47-42 with just under nine minutes to go in the contest.  

 

Belhaven then made it a one possession game at 50-47 with just over two minutes left on a Courtney Ward free throw. However, the Lady Blazers were unable to make some key shots down the stretch and Xavier got a couple of key field goals and free throws in the final seconds to pull away for the 56-49 win.

 

The Lady Blazers were led by Courtney Ward who had a season high 14 points and eight rebounds to go along with five assists and four steals against Xavier. Williams and Dial added eight points a piece while Stringer was held to just five points by the Gold Nuggets defense. Belhaven commanded the boards with a 43-31 advantage, but converted only 29.6 percent of their shots from the field. The Lady Blazers were also cold from behind the arc hitting only 4 of their 19 three point attempts.

 

Xavier was led by Brittany Powell with 14 points followed by Shayla Boyd who chipped in 10 points off the bench. The Gold Nuggets knocked down 43.6 percent of their shots from the field.