MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. —
Christina Warren scored a career-high 18 points Friday, and
Keldra Hall had her third straight double-double — 16 points and 11 rebounds — to lead NAIA No. 22 Xavier University of Louisiana to a 50-43 women's basketball victory over Florida Memorial.
The Gold Nuggets (9-1) have won 30 of their last 32 games and are 13-0 on opponents' courts during that time.
Both Warren and Hall scored 10 first-half points to give Xavier a 28-23 lead at intermission, and Warren's basket with 9:08 remaining made it 41-30. But the Nuggets did not put away the Lady Lions (2-5) until the final six minutes, when a Hall putback and a Warren 3-pointer followed consecutive FMU turnovers and gave XU a 48-41 lead with 3:48 remaining. FMU never came closer than six points thereafter.
Sudanne Stewart scored 13 points, and Daniella Howard grabbed 12 rebounds for FMU. The Lady Lions built a 16-10 lead through nine minutes after an 11-0 run, but freshman
Carmen Holcombe's two free throws in the 17th minute put Xavier ahead to stay, 23-22.
Xavier, the NAIA Division I leader in scoring defense, limited an opponent to less than 50 points for the seventh time this season. The Nuggets outshot FMU 39 to 22 percent from the floor and had a 43-36 rebound advantage.
This is the third time in the program's history that the Gold Nuggets started 9-1 or better in the first 10 games. The last time they did it was in 2004-05 en route to a 20-1 start.
Xavier will play at St. Thomas (Fla.) at 2 p.m. EST Saturday.