3 basketball players sign with Nuggets
For immediate release . . . November 14, 2007

NEW ORLEANS — SiMon "Monee" Franklin of Baton Rouge, La., Hillary Dedeaux of Pass Christian, Miss., and Jazmone Kelly of Cincinnati signed scholarships Wednesday to play women's basketball at Xavier University of Louisiana next season.

All three will be freshmen at Xavier in the fall of 2008.

Franklin, a 5-foot-7 guard, averaged 16.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game as a junior at St. Joseph's Academy, made all-metro and all-district teams and helped her team reach the second round of the Class 5A state playoffs. As a sophomore she was a state champion in the 800-meter run outdoors.

Dedeaux, a 6-foot forward, averaged 16 points per game as a junior at Pass Christian High School. She was all-district and helped the Lady Pirates reach Mississippi's Class AAA state tournament.

Kelly, a 5-foot-9 guard/forward, averaged 6.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.5 steals and one blocked shot per game for Cincinnati's Ursuline Academy in 2006-07. She was a member of state championship teams at Mount Notre Dame in 2006 and, as an eighth-grader in 2004, at Central Baptist Academy. Kelly is an honor student and president of the Mayor's Youth Council.

Xavier competes in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, an NAIA Division I league. Coach Bo Browder's Gold Nuggets were 23-12 this past season, finished second in the GCAC regular season and tournament, then tied a school record with their sixth consecutive appearance in the NAIA National Tournament. Xavier is 3-1 this season and was 26th in the NAIA preseason poll.