NEW ORLEANS — O.C. Mbakop Ngassam and Abryhia Irons combined for 51 points Thursday to help Xavier University of Louisiana squeak past Texas College 86-83 overtime in Red River Athletic Conference women's basketball.
        The Gold Nuggets (11-5 overall, 6-1 RRAC) have a season-high five-game win streak. They'll play host to conference opponent Jarvis Christian at 2 p.m. Saturday.
        Ngassam, with a four-inch height advantage against the Lady Steers' tallest players, produced career highs of 27 points and 19 rebounds. Irons scored a career-high 24 points and tacked on seven rebounds, five assists and two steals.
        XULA needed all those gaudy numbers to outduel Texas College (4-5, 0-1), which also had a 51-point duo. Mystique Womack scored 32 points — her two free throws with three seconds remaining in regulation tied the score at 73 and forced the extra five minutes — and Taylor Crabtree scored 19. The Lady Steers made 10 3-pointers, four apiece by Womack and Lauren Lafitte.
        XULA scored the first four points of overtime — Mbakop Ngassam controlled that period's tap to Irons, who outraced everyone for a layup — and never lost the lead in the extra period. Womack's 3 with three seconds remaining produced the final points.
        Better free-throw shooting might have averted an overtime; Texas College missed 10 free throws, XULA 16 in regulation.
        XULA leads the series 10-0, but this was the first time the Nuggets did not defeat the Lady Steers by double digits. They'll meet against Feb. 10 in Tyler, Texas.