Xavier women lose in GCAC semifinals
E. Cassiere 03/06/09

March 6, 2009 SHREVEPORT, La. -- Tish Flowers scored 13 points Friday to lead LSU-Shreveport past defending champion Xavier University of Louisiana 59-56 in the women's basketball semifinals of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament.

The Gold Nuggets (23-9), seeded third in the tournament, lost for the third time in as many tries this season to second-seeded LSUS (27-4), which advanced to Monday's 7 p.m. championship game at regular-season champion Loyola. LSUS and Loyola have clinched automatic berths to the NAIA Division I National Championship.

Danielle Jones scored 10 points and Brittany Powell nine for Xavier, which led 29-28 at halftime, and Johnna Williams grabbed 11 rebounds. LSUS outshot the Nuggets 38 to 32 percent from the floor and outscored them 24-9 in free throws.Xavier's Jasmine Grant missed a 3-pointer from the top of the key on the game's final possession.

The Lady Pilots' three victories against Xavier were by an average of 3.7 points.Loyola advanced to the final by defeating William Carey 79-69.Xavier, which entered the season with an active streak if seven consecutive trips to the NAIA nationals and 13 in the past 14 seasons, will learn Wednesday afternoon if it did enough to earn an at-large berth.

"It's going to be a close call," Xavier coach Bo Browder said. "We had a team with no seniors go out and get 23 wins, and three of those against teams which qualified for nationals -- Loyola, Langston and Berry. We have a great tradition of making it to nationals. You can make a case for us to get in again."