NEW ORLEANS — Trenell Smith had 23 points and six assists Monday to
lead NAIA No. 21 Loyola to a 73-68 women's basketball victory against
Xavier University of Louisiana in the championship game of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference
Tournament at The Den.
The Wolfpack (25-8) extended its school-record winning streak to 17
games and won the GCAC Tournament for the first time. Loyola also won its
first regular-season championship.
Trenese Smith, Trenell's twin, had 16 points and five steals for
Loyola, and Dani Holland and Christine Mainguy scored 13 points apiece.
Mainguy grabbed nine rebounds.
Erica Turnbull scored a career-high 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds
for Xavier (23-11), and
Dominee Matthews had 18 points and a career-high
14 rebounds. But the Gold Nuggets' three-time All-GCAC guard, Jarryn
Cleaves, did not score for the first time in her career. Cleaves played
31 minutes despite the flu, missed seven shots and committed six
turnovers.
Loyola led 35-30 at halftime and never lost the lead in the second
half. Xavier's only leads were at 2-0 on Turnbull's basket at 18:59 and
30-28 on Matthews' 3-pointer at 2:12.
Xavier outshot Loyola 46 to 36 percent from the floor and outrebounded
the Wolfpack 51-34, but Loyola outscored the Nuggets 20-5 from the line
and committed 17 turnovers, 12 fewer than Xavier.
"I take my hat off to Loyola. They've had a great season," Xavier Coach
Bo Browder said. "But I also have to tip my hat to the Xavier Gold Nuggets.
We lost four starters to torn ACLs, and we battled through many more injuries.
Jarryn had the flu tonight. But we kept battling. That's quite an accomplishment
for our ladies to face all this adversity yet be able to finish second in
the GCAC regular season and tournament and reach the national tournament again."
Both Xavier and Loyola will advance to the NAIA Division I National Tournament at
Jackson, Tenn., next week. First-round games in the 32-team event will
be played March 14 and 15. Loyola will make its second appearance — the
other was in 2005 — and Xavier will make its 12th appearance and sixth
in a row. The Nuggets did not field a team in 2005-06 because of the
effects of Hurricane Katrina.
Tournament seedings and pairings will be announced Wednesday.
