JACKSON, Tenn. — Dee Preyer scored 11 of her 15 points in the first seven minutes Thursday to spark defending champion Lambuth to a 73-56 rout of Xavier University of Louisiana in the opening round of the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Championship at Oman Arena.
     Yolanda Johnson scored 19 points, Donna Levea 11 and Chytearra Kintchen 10 for the 11th-ranked Lady Eagles (24-9), who won for the 15th time in 17 games and will play Vanguard in the second round at 4:30 p.m. Friday.
     Jarryn Cleaves, in her final game for 24th-ranked Xavier (27-7), scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Johnna Williams scored 11 points, and Shayla Boyd had 10.
     Preyer made a 3-pointer 11 seconds into the game to start a 7-0 run which gave Lambuth the lead for good. The Lady Eagles led 42-21 at halftime, and Johnson's 3-pointer gave them their largest lead, 45-21, with 19:42 remaining.
     Xavier trailed by double digits the final 33 minutes and never got closer than 13 points in the second half.
     Lambuth outshot the Nuggets 44 to 33 percent from the floor — 59 to 21 percent in the first half — and outrebounded them 42-37.
     It was Xavier's fifth consecutive loss at nationals and the seventh consecutive time the Nuggets shot less than 40 percent from the floor in the tournament. Xavier was 1-of-18 from 3-point range and 0-of-13 the final 30 minutes.
     Cleaves finished with Xavier career records for of 136 games played and 282 made 3-pointers. She is second with a .756 free-throw percentage and fifth with 1,745 points.