NEW ORLEANS — Keldra Hall and Chelsea Broussard scored 10 points apiece Friday to lead NAIA No. 16 Xavier University of Louisiana in a 72-48 women's basketball victory against Florida Memorial.
     It was the opener for both teams. The Gold Nuggets won their home opener for the 20th consecutive season.
     Hall, an All-Gulf Coast Athletic Conference center this past season, scored all her points in 11 second-half minutes. Broussard, a sophomore forward, reached double figures for the third time at Xavier.
     "I struggled the first half but I was more determined to be effective in the second half," Hall said.
     Jasmine Grant, who missed the final 26 games of 2010-11 because of a knee injury, put Xavier ahead to stay at 7-4 with a 3-pointer during the third minute. The Gold Nuggets led by double digits for the final 24:52, including 37-25 at halftime, and the final margin was their largest of the game.
     Dominique Jackson had 13 points and eight rebounds for Florida Memorial, a qualifier for the NAIA Division II National Championship a year ago, and Kalicia Battle had 10 points and six rebounds. The Lady Lions never led.
     Xavier, the NAIA Division I leader in scoring defense the past two seasons, outshot the Lady Lions 37.3 to 25.9 percent from the floor and outrebounded them 53-46. Hall and Paige Gauthier grabbed seven rebounds apiece for the Nuggets, with Gauthier matching her career high.
     Fifteen players saw action for Xavier, and 13 scored. SiMon Franklin, a junior guard who redshirted this past season, started and had nine points and three steals in a team-best 23 minutes. All four of the Nuggets' freshmen — Jessica Savannah, Crystal Wallace, Cleosha Lee and redshirt Dalila Robinson — scored, with Savannah and Robinson getting seven points apiece.
     "Our team played well after a disappointing exhibiton loss at LSU," said Xavier coach Bo Browder, who is 299-102 in 13th seasons. "We need more work on defense and rebounding. Other than that it was a good night."
     Xavier has won 11 straight at The Barn and 110 of its past 117 games in its campus facility.
     NOTES:  Xavier beat Florida Memorial in both teams' opener for the second straight year. It was 55-47 at The Barn last season . . . XU's 2010-11 team members received Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament championship rings in a pregame ceremony . . . Xavier's tournament next week at Georgetown (Ky.) changed sponsors — it's now the Chick-fil-A Classic — and game times. The Gold Nuggets will play at 6 p.m. EST next Friday against Indiana Wesleyan and 4 p.m. EST the following day against Georgetown.