Lady Rams' Season Ends at Xavier

NEW ORLEANS, Louis-- The University of Mobile women's basketball team saw its season come to an end Saturday as they dropped a 74-72 decision at Xavier University in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals.

Second half defense from the Gold Nuggets and a banner night from Jarryn Cleaves did the Lady Rams in. Cleaves finished with 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting and the Xavier defense rebounded in the 2nd half after being lit up by the Mobile duo of Sherri McIntosh and Danielle Goodly in the opening period.

McIntosh tallied 16 first-half points and Goodly added 11, but the Gold Nuggets limited the pair to only 10 combined points in the final period, while forcing 24 Mobile turnovers in the game.

The opening half was back-and-forth early with teams exchanging leads until the Lady Rams turned a 26-24 deficit into a 34-28 lead with 4:22 remaining when McIntosh grabbed an offensive board and got the putback. The home team made a charge, but late buckets from Goodly and Anna Maddox sent the Lady Rams into intermission with a nice 41-34 lead.

Much like the first half, the final period started with the teams jostling back-and-forth to the point where Mobile led 61-59 with 6:02 remaining. Then, the Lady Rams went cold as the Gold Nuggets held Mobile without a point for the next 3:44 as Xavier built a 68-61 lead, their largest of the game.

From there, Xavier hit 6-of-8 from the charity stripe, while the Lady Rams struggled and hit only 3-of-7 freebies down the stretch as Xavier escaped with the win. They move on to face Loyola Tuesday in the GCAC finals.

McIntosh finished with 20 points and 7 rebounds, Goodly finished with 17 points, Crystal Hutchinson added 15 points and 9 boards, and Mobile senior Angela Bounds finished her Lady Ram career with 11 points. Mobile finishes the season 18-14.