Gold Nuggets hold on to defeat Lady Rams 60-57

NEW ORLEANS — Mikayla Bates’s 3-pointer with two minutes remaining put Xavier University of Louisiana ahead to stay in a 60-57 women’s basketball victory against Mobile.

The victory was the fourth in a row for the Gold Nuggets (9-3), who snapped the two-game win streak of the Lady Rams (3-5).

Bates’s trey, her only points of the game, came from the left corner to make it 56-54. It was the seventh lead change of the quarter. Mobile twice cut its deficit to one point and missed a chance to regain the lead when Kelsey Pinera was called for traveling under her basket with three seconds remaining. XULA’s Jas Hill followed with two free throws for the final margin.

Mobile’s Kendra Langham missed a 3-pointer the buzzer.

Hill scored a game-high 18 points and reached double figures for the eighth time this season. Essence Wells scored 12 points, all in the second half, and had two blocks and three steals. Da’Jha Virgil scored a career-high nine points.

Janae Strode scored a season-high-tying 17 points for Mobile, and Lauren Bodino scored nine.

It was the final game before semester exams for XULA, which will resume its schedule at 2 p.m. Dec. 15 at Louisiana-Lafayette.