NEW ORLEANS – The five-seed Louisiana State University of Alexandria women's basketball team was eliminated by four-seed Xavier University of Louisiana, 66-55, in the Red River Athletic Conference Championship Quarterfinal.
 
"I'm proud of the girls and the way they fought," LSUA Head Coach Billy Perkins said.
 
Princis Goff and Justice Young both recorded a team-high 13 points. Sydney Person tallied 10. Reese Stephens finished with seven points and eight assists. LSUA (14-14) shot just 30.5-percent from the floor.
 
Alicia Blanton led the Gold Nuggets (19-10) with 14 points. She tallied eight of her points at the free throw line. XULA shot just 31.9-percent from the field. The Gold Nuggets out rebounded LSUA 56 to 38, including a margin of 21 to 12 in offensive rebounds.
 
Both the Generals and Gold Nuggets struggled to get their offense going in the first half. LSUA knocked down just three of their 13 shots, while XULA was 5-for-17. Neither team converted from beyond the arc. After 10 minute of play, Xavier (LA.) led 13-8.
 
The offensive struggled continued in the second quarter with the Gold Nugget shooting just 18.75-percent from the field. The Generals out scored the Gold Nuggets, 14-13, in the second period.
 
Coming out of halftime, the Generals found a groove offensively in the third. They knocked down 43.75-percent of their shots for a 19-18 edge in the period and went into the fourth trailing just 44-41.
 
A jumper from Person opened the scoring in the fourth, but was matched by a pair of free throws from Fatima Katembo. Goff answered with two free throws of her own to make it 46-45 in favor of XULA.
 
The Gold Nuggets then scored seven unanswered points to go up 53-45 with 5:22 left in regulation.
 
After trading buckets for a pair of possessions, a jumper from Blanton gave the Nuggets their first 10-point lead of the contest with 2:52 left and held on for the victory.