NEW ORLEANS — Brittany Powell, starting for the first time in eight games, scored 14 points Monday to lead Xavier University of Louisiana to a 56-49 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference women's basketball victory over Belhaven.
     Powell scored six points in Xavier's 16-2 run in the opening eight minutes. The Gold Nuggets (17-7 overall, 8-4 GCAC) never lost the lead, although Belhaven (15-9, 6-6) cut its deficit to three points in the final 2½ minutes.
     Shayla Boyd added 10 points for Xavier, which snapped a two-game losing streak and clinched a winning record for a school-record-tying eighth consecutive time. The Nuggets will finish above .500 for the 16th time in 17 seasons.
     Courtney Ward, Belhaven's only double-figure scorer, had 14 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals. Ward was 4-of-4 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the line.
     The Nuggets were outrebounded 43-31 — the Nuggets' worst deficit of the season — but they limited Belhaven to 29.6-percent shooting from the floor.
     Xavier remained in fourth place in the GCAC but gained a game in the standings. LSU-Shreveport, which began the day in sole possession of first place, lost 64-55 at Dillard and dropped into a tie with Loyola, a 75-55 winner at Spring Hill. LSUS and Loyola each are 10-2 in conference, with William Carey — a 79-58 winner at home against Tougaloo — in third at 9-3.
     Xavier won for the 76th time in its past 79 games at The Barn. LSUS snapped the Nuggets' 27-game winning streak in their campus facility on Saturday.