NEW ORLEANS — Jazmoné Kelly scored 11 points Monday and made two free throws with one-tenth of a second remaining to give NAIA No. 22 Xavier University of Louisiana a 60-58 women's basketball victory over LSU-Shreveport.
The Gold Nuggets (8-1) won for the 29th time in 31 games and defeated LSUS (3-3) for the second time this season.
Xavier scored four unanswered points in the final half-minute.
Keldra Hall's basket after an offensive rebound tied the score at 58 with 25 seconds remaining, then an LSUS turnover gave the Nuggets the ball with 13 seconds remaining. After a Xavier timeout, Kelly was fouled after driving the right baseline.
"I just wanted to make those free throws and get out of there," said Kelly, a career 63-percent shooter from the line. "We didn't want to play overtime. We had worked too hard to let it go to OT."
Hall had her second straight double-double, 10 points and a career-high-tying 11 rebounds.
Tynekqua Warren of LSUS scored all 13 of her points in the second half, including three 3-pointers. LSUS led nearly all of the final eight minutes, and Warren's basket gave the Lady Pilots a 55-50 lead with 2:47 remaining.
Xavier outscored LSUS 13-5 in the first nine minutes and led 27-26 at halftime.
The Gold Nuggets shot a season-worst 31.7 percent from the floor — LSUS shot 41.3 percent — but committed a season-low 15 turnovers and gained 22. The Nuggets limited Sharday Cotton, the Lady Pilots' leading scorer, to a season-low four points.
Xavier's next game will start at 7 p.m. EST Friday at Florida Memorial. LSUS will travel to Paul Quinn for a 5:30 p.m. Thursday game, the Lady Pilots' first in the Red River Athletic Conference.