Lady Bearcats’ great start leads to wire-to-wire victory against Nuggets

NEW ORLEANS — Ebony Hargrove made 3-of-3 3-pointers in the first five minutes Saturday to spark Rust to a wire-to-wire 62-52 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference women’s basketball victory against Xavier University of Louisiana.

The Lady Bearcats (17-2, 6-0) won their eighth in a row and for the 12th time in their last 13 games to remain tied with Talladega atop the GCAC. Rust completed a two-game regular-season sweep of the Gold Nuggets (11-10, 2-4), who lost for the sixth time in eight games.

Kyla Duncan had 13 points and eight rebounds for XULA, Shaelynn Moore scored eight, and Essence Wells and Maya Trench had three steals apiece.

Shay Johnson scored 15 points, Hargrove 13 and Lisa Crawford 10 for Rust. Katie Blackmon had nine points and 11 rebounds, and Johnson had six assists.

XULA will compete a four-game home stand with a 5:30 p.m. Monday matchup with Philander Smith, the GCAC’s third-place team at 6-1 and 19-4 overall.