LAS VEGAS — Dominee Matthews had career highs of 25 points and 11 rebounds Saturday to lead Xavier University of Louisiana to an 86-80 women's basketball victory against Harris-Stowe in the Robert Morris Las Vegas Classic.
     Xavier (2-0) won in overtime for the second consecutive day and earned its 75th victory in the last 89 games.
     Matthews, starting in place of injured Kojavona Hamilton, converted a three-point play with 2:52 remaining to break a tie at 80 and put the Gold Nuggets ahead to stay.
     "Dominee played extremely well," Xavier Coach Robert "Bo" Browder said. "With Kojo out, we were hoping to get a big-time game from Dominee. She answered the wakeup call."
     Matthews scored the most points by a Nugget since Jarryn Cleaves had 26 against Loyola in the semifinals of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament on March 5, 2004.
     Cleaves scored 13 points, Erica Turnbull 11 and Rynika Hebert 10 for Xavier.
     Kanisha Pettis scored 21 points, all on 3-pointers, for Harris-Stowe (1-1), and Laniya Stevens scored 19.
     The Nuggets led 72-61 with five minutes remaining in regulation, but the Hornets scored 14 of the next 16 points to take a 75-74 lead with 1:02 remaining. Hebert's free throw with 44 seconds to play tied the score and forced the overtime.
     "Harris-Stowe was not big, but they were as athletic as our team," Browder said. "We couldn't keep up with their quickness. We had to play zone defense 80 percent of the time."
     Westmont, which lost to Xavier on Friday, defeated Robert Morris (Ill.) 72-56 in Saturday's other game.
     Xavier will play its home opener at 5:30 p.m. Friday against Texas College in The Barn.