NEW ORLEANS —
Erica Turnbull had 18 points and eight rebounds Thursday,
and
Ashley McGill scored a career-high 13 points to lead NAIA No. 20 Xavier
University of Louisiana to a 75-43 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference women's basketball
victory over city rival SUNO.
Turnbull and McGill combined to make 13-of-15 shots from the floor for the Gold
Nuggets (12-3 overall, 2-1 GCAC). McGill was perfect on all five of her attempts,
including three 3-pointers.
Disha Leonard had 20 points — she was 12-of-12 from the line —
and 11 rebounds for SUNO (4-6, 0-3).
Eleven of 12 Nuggets scored, including freshman
Johnna Williams, who had
nine points in her collegiate debut.
Xavier led 7-0 through four minites and never lost its lead. The Nuggets
outshot SUNO 41 to 27 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Lady Knights
51-33. Xavier gained 24 turnovers, with
Jarryn Cleaves and
Alissa Thompson
both collecting five steals.
The victory was the 10th in a row at home for the Nuggets, who have won 58
of their past 60 games at The Barn. It was their biggest winning margin against
SUNO since the 1995-96 season.
Both teams will play GCAC road games at 5 p.m. Saturday. Xavier will visit
Tougaloo, and SUNO will travel to Mobile.