NEW ORLEANS — Zayla Tinner, one of four Grambling starters in double figures, scored 15 points Saturday to lead the Lady Tigers to a 69-55 women's basketball victory against Xavier University of Louisiana.
        NCAA Division I Grambling (2-0) — a second-round WNIT team a year ago and the preseason favorite in the Southwestern Athletic Conference — counted the game in its season statistics and records. But the Gold Nuggets, a longtime NAIA power, played it as an exhibition. Therefore, XULA will be 2-0 when it opens its Red River Athletic Conference schedule at 5:30 p.m. Thursday against Our Lady of the Lake at the Convocation Center.
        Tinner grabbed nine rebounds and had two steals, one assist and one block.
        Alyssa Phillip had 11 points, 18 rebounds and three blocks for Grambling, and Sharonica Hartsfield and Kahia Warmsley scored 10 apiece.
        Lauren Banks, with 14 points, was XULA's only double-figure scorer. Janiya Reed had nine points, and Kam Shelley scored eight. Shelley and Reed had three steals apiece, and Patricia Sosa Lora grabbed 11 rebounds.
        Both teams struggled from the floor, with Grambling making 29.7 percent of its shots and XULA making 27.4 percent. As a result there were plenty of rebounds — the Lady Tigers outrebounded the Gold Nuggets 61-54.
        Grambling took the lead for good in the third minute.
        Attendance was 712 in the opener of XULA's homecoming doubleheader.