Gold Nuggets win to give Browder his 250th victory
December 30, 2009

Box score

     IRVINE, Calif. — SiMon Franklin scored 11 points and Brittany Powell 10 Wednesday, leading Xavier University of Louisiana to a 61-50 women's basketball victory over Metro State in the Surf City Classic and giving Bo Browder his 250th victory as the Gold Nuggets' coach.
     Browder is 250-92 in his 11th season. He became the Nuggets' winningest coach in 2005.
     Xavier (7-3) snapped a three-game losing streak and finished 1-2 in this event. The Nuggets led for all but 34 seconds after squandering double-digit leads the previous two days.
     The Nuggets scored the first seven points and never trailed. There was one tie at 10, but Franklin's two free throws at 9:09 put Xavier ahead to stay, 12-10, en route to a 35-24 halftime advantage.
     Candice Kohn's basket with 11:50 remaining cut Xavier's lead to 42-40, but the Roadrunners (6-5) never got closer. Powell answered with a basket on the next possession, and Franklin capped an 11-2 run with two free throws to give the Nuggets their biggest lead, 61-47, with 42 seconds remaining.
     Kohn scored a career-high 17 points for Metro State, and Chelsea Williamson had 10. The Roadrunners entered with a two-game winning streak and had a victory earlier this month over Fort Lewis, the No. 7 team in NCAA Division II.
     Xavier won despite shooting 35 percent from the floor and 57.1 percent from the line, both season lows. The Nuggets gained 29 turnovers, 12 more than they committed, and had 17 steals.
     Metro State shot 40.8 percent from the floor and a season-low 47.8 percent from the line.
     It was the Nuggets' second victory of the season against an NCAA Division II opponent. Xavier is an NAIA Division I member.
     Xavier's next game will start at 4 p.m. Saturday against Lindsey Wilson at The Barn.