MOBILE, Ala-- The University of Mobile women's basketball team stepped out of of conference play Thursday evening to pick up a 63-59 victory over 16th-ranked Xavier University-Louisiana.
Mobile improves to 14-9 overall and sits at 4-5 in the division. The Lady Rams, 11-2 at home, will visit rival Spring Hill College Saturday, Feb. 19 at 5 pm.
Alice Honnery dominated inside for Mobile, finishing with 15 points, 13 rebounds, 6 blocks and 6 assists, while Allison Michael knocked down 4-of-6 from 3-pt range to finish with 14 points. Leana Tajkov added 9 points off the bench and Anna Maddox chipped in 8 points, 5 assists and 4 steals.
Christina Warren led the Gold Nuggets with 16 points and 11 rebounds, but shot only 6-of-21 from the floor and 1-of-8 from 3-pt range. Keldra Hall finished with 8 points and 11 boards while knocking people around in the paint.
Mobile out shot Xavier 43% to 31% from the field, but the Lady Rams had 27 turnovers and Xavier pulled down 27 offensive boards, compared to 8 for Mobile. Mobile finished 6-of-16 from 3-pt range, while Xavier hit only 1-of-16 from deep. The Lady Rams did a nice job of icing the game from the charity stripe, hitting 10-of-11 in the final half, compared to 6-of-13 from the Gold Nuggets.
The teams traded leads nine times in the early part of the opening half until Mobile found themselves down 17-16 with 8:18 remaining. Over the next 5:37, Mobile went on a 15-4 run to take a 10-point lead on a 3-pointer from Michael. Mobile went 5-for-5 from the free throw line in the run. The Lady Rams then went into the break with a 33-27 lead.
Xavier never led in the final period, but that does not mean it was easy for Mobile. Xavier forced a tie just 1:49 into the half, before Mobile answered with a 15-4 run to build a 48-37 lead with 13:10 left on a bucket from Leana Tajkov. But, six Mobile turnovers and a technical foul over the next 5:06 sparked a Xavier run to pull within 51-50 with 8:04 left on a pair of free throws from Marchelle Jones. Michael answered that with a 3-ball for the Lady Rams, and Mobile was able to answer Xavier down the stretch, each time they pulled within one. The score sat at 58-57 with 3:45 left, but Mobile went 5-of-6 from the line the rest of the way, while Xavier missed their only two free throw attempts. The Gold Nuggets pulled within 61-59 with 53 seconds to play, and they got the ball back, but Brandi Young missed a tying bucket and Alyssa Lane sank two free throws with 3 ticks left to ice it.