XULA’s Irons earns RRAC Defensive Player of the Year while Bishop named first team all conference

ALEXANDRIA, La. — Xavier University of Louisiana’s Abryhia Irons and Nia Bishop were honored Saturday evening when the Red River Athletic Conference announced its end-of-season women’s basketball awards.

Irons was named RRAC Defensive Player of the Year, and Bishop was chosen first-team All-RRAC.

“I’m really happy and excited for these two young ladies,” 23rd-year XULA head coach Bo Browder said. “Abryhia is a lockdown defender, certainly among the best we’ve ever had here. She’s always dependable and always focused, on and off the floor. She knows how to handle her business.

“I call Nia Batman because she’s bailed us out like a superhero several times during her two seasons here. Nia is our best scorer and plays hard on both ends of the floor. It’s no surprise that we’ve won two championships since she joined our program.”

Irons leads XULA with 51 steals, 70 assists and 165 rebounds in 24 games. A 5-foot-7 guard from Boutte, La., and a graduate of John Curtis Christian School, Boutte also averages 8.5 points per game.

Bishop — a 5-4 senior guard from Brooklyn, N.Y., and a former Nelson Mandela School for Social Justice and Salem (W.Va.) University standout — averages 13.4 points per game and leads the Gold Nuggets in scoring for the second consecutive season.

The Gold Nuggets — 20-5 and the RRAC East Division champion at 15-1 — will play Southwest (N.M.) at 9:45 a.m. Sunday in the quarterfinals of the RRAC Tournament at Rapides Parish Coliseum (5600 Coliseum Blvd., Alexandria, LA 71303-3747). Tickets are available online via Ticketmaster, but fans can avoid the surcharge and pay $10 at the door.

The tournament will conclude Tuesday. This is XULA’s first season in the RRAC.