NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Fire battled hard against some of the quickest and most athletic competition of the season Friday night. Southeastern University went on an 8-0 run in a surge over the end of the third and first two minutes of the fourth, but No. 6 Xavier University of Louisiana held on and took away the win, 77-59, in the NAIA Women's Basketball First Round.
Trailing by 16 points with 2:44 left in the third quarter, SEU put eight of the final 10 points on the scoreboard and cut the deficit to 54-44 heading to the final period. The Fire kept up the pressure with jumpers from Grace Field, Anaya Coleman, and Mya Herman on three-straight possessions for then four-point difference, 54-50, with 8:11 remaining. The Gold Rush, though, answered with the ensuing seven points and never let the Fire get closer than ten points over the final 5:28.
"Our team has grown together, and they fought hard," pointed out SEU head coach Joshua Epperson. "We were trailing by double digits before coming back and getting within four. That just shows the resiliency of this team."
Despite the tough loss, SEU wrapped up a solid 24-7 campaign, its second 22-plus season win in a row.
The Friday night match-up was SEU's first against XULA (28-3) since the same NAIA First Round on March 11, 2022. SEU went into that meeting as the consensus No. 1 team in the NAIA national ranking and defeated No. 16 Xavier by a 77-45 margin in Lakeland.
SEU took care of the rock as it committed only 13 turnovers in the 40 minutes of play, but Xavier held a big rebound advantage, 51-29. The Fire also had a tough shooting night beyond the arc where they were 5-for-19 in the game.
"We did a good job with the ball, only having 13 turnovers, which is less than they (Xavier) usually create," added Epperson.
With the highly-successful season with a runner-up placing in the Sun Conference Tournament, SEU saw its four seniors play their final game in a Fire uniform.
"The four seniors (Kassidy Jones, Jodi Mullins, Courtni Demorest, Madison Vaira) all have something they added and they have meant a lot to us with what they add to the team," Epperson said of his veteran players.
Leading the offensive charge, Herman hit 6 of her 12 field goal attempts, including a pair of triples, for a team-high 14 points along with two rebounds, two assists, and three steals.
Coleman added 10 points, five assists, and two boards, while Field completed her night with 10 points, six rebounds, two assists, and a pair of steals.
Mullins contributed eight points, four rebounds, and three assists, while Demorest added seven points and six rebounds.
Haas dropped five points and three rebounds and Ariana Smuda added five points and three blocks off the SEU bench. Rosa Sorribes handed out three assists.
The Gold Rush saw the game's high-point producer come from Kam Shelley and her 22 points.
The Fire started the night on a good run. After four points went to the home team, Mullins dropped a jump shot and Demorest drained a trey for a 5-4 lead only 2:33 into the night. Mullins followed with two free throws for what would be SEU's largest lead, 7-4.
The Fire enjoyed one final first-quarter lead when Coleman scored for an 11-10 advantage. XULA took advantage of three SEU missed shots and a turnover and netted the next eight points to retake the lead, 18-10, and never trailed over the final 33 minutes of play.
