March 14, 2007

JACKSON, Tenn. - Third-seeded Carroll College (Mont.) held off a late rally by sixth-seeded Xavier University (La.) 56-50 to advance to the second round of the 27th Annual NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Championship at Oman Arena.

Carroll led by a 16-point margin at 33-17 at halftime, and then took its largest lead of the game at 42-22 just over three minutes into the second half. The Fighting Saints led by 19 points at 52-33 with 10 minutes to play in the game, but Jarryn Cleaves scored 15 points of a 17-3 run that brought Xavier to within 55-50 with 13 seconds remaining. Carroll rebounded two of its own missed free throws in the closing seconds to hang on for the win.

Jolene Fusezy led Carroll with a game-high 19 points, while Amy Brooks added a 12-point, 13-rebound double-double.

Xavier was led by Cleaves' 18-point, five-assist performance, and Vyaisha Moss added 10 points for the Gold Nuggets. Cleaves made four-of-10 three-pointers, giving her a Xavier single-season record 88 three-pointers on the year while raising her career three-point total to 201, just three short of the Xavier career mark.

With the win, Carroll improves to 30-4 on the season and advances to a second-round matchup on Friday at 9 a.m. to face the winner of this afternoon's contest between second-seeded Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.) and Westmont (Calif.). Xavier drops to 23-12 to finish the season.