Langston holds on to beat Nuggets in Xavier Classic
November 27, 2009

Box score

     NEW ORLEANS — Stephanie Madden and Latesha Calton-Woods scored 16 points apiece Friday to help Langston hold on for a 69-66 women's basketball victory over Xavier University of Louisiana in the sixth and final game of the Xavier Classic.
     Langston and Dillard both finished 2-0 in the seven-team, two-day event. Xavier was 1-1.
     Madden and Calton-Woods scored 10 second-half points apiece to help the Lady Lions (3-5) rally from a 33-31 halftime deficit.
     Jazmoné Kelly 12 and Brittany Powell scored 12 points apiece for Xavier (6-1), and Marchelle Jones scored 10.
     Xavier rallied too, twice cutting the margin to one after trailing 63-55 with 4:38 remaining. But the Gold Nuggets missed two shots in the final seven seconds — Jasmine Grant's jumper in the paint which would've given XU a one-point lead, and Jones' 3-pointer at the buzzer which would've have forced overtime.
     Between those missed shots, Jackson made two free throws — she was 10-of-11 for the game — for the game's final points with 6.6 seconds remaining.
     The teams, both perennial contenders for the NAIA Division I National Championship, combined to shoot 92 percent from the line. Xavier tied a school record by making all 16 of their attempts. SiMon Franklin and Powell both were 4-of-4, and LaTashia Wise was 3-of-3 to improve to 9-of-9 this season.
     Langston, the preseason favorite in the Red River Athletic Conference coaches poll, was 19-of-22 from the line, 10-of-11 in the second half.
     Xavier trailed 10-4 in the first seven minutes but rallied to take a pair of five-point leads in the final minute of the first half.
     Langston snapped Xavier's eight-game win streak at The Barn. It's just the Nuggets' fourth loss at The Barn in their past 87 games. Langston is responsible for two of those losses — the other was 72-66 in the Xavier Classic on Nov. 24, 2006. Xavier beat Langston a year ago in this event.
     Langston also denied Xavier a 7-0 start, which would've been the Nuggets' first since the 1980-81 season.
     The victory was the third straight for Langston after five losses, two of which were on the road to ranked NAIA opponents.
     In Friday's other games, Dillard defeated Texas College 76-55, and Grambling — which did not play Thursday — beat Tuskegee 72-57.
     Xavier will not play again until after Christmas. The Nuggets' next game will start at 8 p.m. (6 p.m. PST) on Dec. 28 at Concordia (Calif.) in the Surf City Classic at Irvine, Calif.