Feb. 25, 2007

Box Score | 2007 A-10 Women's Basketball Championship Bracket

CINCINNATI - Senior forward Joei Clyburn scored 20 points and was one rebound shy of a double-double and sophomore guard Jerri Taylor added a career-high 14 points to lead the Xavier University women's basketball team past Rhode Island, 74-44, in the regular season finale for both squads on Sunday afternoon.

XU ends the season at 23-7, tying for the second most regular-season wins in program history. The Musketeers finish the conference season with an 11-3 mark, securing the No. 3 seed in next weekend's Atlantic 10 Championship set to be held at Cintas Center. The top four seeds earned a bye into Saturday's quarterfinal with the Musketeers scheduled to play either Richmond or Saint Louis at 6 p.m.

Freshman forward Amber Harris posted her 11th double-double of the year (third in-a-row) with 10 points and tied a career high with 16 rebounds. The 11-time A-10 Rookie of the Week had a typical afternoon defensively, blocking six shots to finish the regular season with a record 125 rejections. She is now the new freshman scoring record holder with 489 points.

Senior guard Suntana Granderson netted 11 points and buried three 3-point field goals vs. the Rams. She also snared five rebounds and dished-out a pair of assists prior to being honored during post game Senior Day ceremonies along with Clyburn, Miranda Green, DeAnna Mason and Michele Miller.

Mason continued her solid play in the post, scoring nine points and collecting nine rebounds in 14 minutes of action.

Clyburn's 20 came on 9-of-10 shooting and she also blocked four shots. Taylor was 5-of-6 from the floor including a scorching 4-of-5 from beyond the 3-point arc.

Freshman guard Alesia Barringer was solid in 16 minutes of action, dropping five dimes without committing a single turnover.

The Musketeers put this one away early, jumping out to a 13-2 run just 3:20 into the first half. Clyburn ended the run with five-consecutive points. URI would pull to within eight points, 17-9, after Amanda McGrew buried a 3-pointer.

However, the Musketeers dominated for the remainder, out-scoring the Rams 29-11 over the final 12:30 and went into the locker room up 46-20.

It was more of the same in the second stanza as Xavier built its lead up to as many as 31 points and cruised to the 74-44 triumph.

Xavier dominated on the glass, out-rebounding the Rams 56-to-33 including 43-to-19 on the defensive glass. The 56 boards marked a season-high. The Musketeers were able to corral so many boards thanks in large part to their solid defensive effort as XU held the Rams to just 25 percent (19-of-76) shooting including 21.1 percent (8-of-38) in the first half.

Xavier matched a single-season team record for the third time this season with 13 blocked shots while shooting a solid 47.5 percent (28-of-59) from the field.