Gold Nuggets beat LCU to maintain win streak

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana scored the final eight points Monday to escape with its 11th consecutive women’s basketball victory, 69-61, in Red River Athletic Conference play over Louisiana Christian.

The Wildcats, trailing by 14 points late in the third quarter, tied the score at 61 on Clare Borot’s 3-pointer with 3:10 remaining. But Nia Bishop — nicknamed Batman by head coach Bo Browder because of her ability to rescue the team — put XULA (17-5 overall, 12-1 RRAC) ahead to stay on the next possession with a 3. LCU then missed its final seven shots, including five 3s.

Bishop scored 18 points, and teammates Destinee Pointer and Rayna Ross scored 10 apiece. Abryhia Irons had eight points, five assists, a game-high three steals and a career-high-tying 12 rebounds.

Miya McKinney had 19 points and 15 rebounds for LCU (15-8, 9-5), and Borot scored 17.

XULA led 37-33 at halftime after trailing 6-0, and consecutive 3s by Pointer, Da’Jha Virgil and Bishop gave the Gold Nuggets their largest lead, 53-39, at 4:08 of the third quarter.

Bishop, Pointer and Virgil accounted for all of XULA’s season-high nine 3s. Bishop made four, Pointer three and Virgil two.

The winning streak is the Gold Nuggets’ longest since 12 in a row during the 2012-13 season. XULA snapped LCU’s six-game win streak.

Next for XULA will be RRAC road games against Southwest Thursday in Hobbs, N.M., and Paul Quinn Saturday in Dallas. XULA learned during the LCU game that its home finale — an RRAC makeup Feb. 22 with Wiley — has been forfeited to XULA. The Lady Wildcats scrapped their remaining games Monday because of — as listed on Wiley’s athletics website — “a lack of players” caused by “injuries and other issues (that) reduced the roster below a safe number to compete.”

XULA will compete Feb. 27 in the quarterfinals of the RRAC Tournament at Alexandria, La., as the No. 1 or 2 seed. The Gold Nuggets trail Our Lady of the Lake (13-10, 10-0) by a game in the loss column.