March 17, 2006

Box Score

CINCINNATI - Senior forward Tara Boothe led five players in double-figures with 18 points as Xavier downed South Carolina, 70-65, in overtime on Friday evening in First Round action of the WNIT. With the win Xavier improves to 21-8 on the season and will play either Villanova or Hofstra next week. The date, time and site of XU's second round showdown are to be announced.

Xavier battled back from a 10-point second half deficit and regained the lead, 54-52, on a pair of Suntana Granderson free throws with 2:40 remaining in regulation.

USC would score the next four points but Candyce Bingham nailed a pair of free throws to knot the score up at 56 with 52 seconds to go, eventually sending the contest into overtime.

Bingham scored six consecutive points for XU in the extra session as the Musketeers took the lead for good, 62-60, with 2:50 to.

A pair of Lauren Simms free throws drew USC to one point, 66-65, at the one-minute mark but Jerri Taylor answered with two more free throws on the ensuing possession and USC would not score again.

Boothe's 18 came on 7-of-11 shooting and she also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Taylor tied a career high with 11 points and she drilled all four shots she took.

Michele Miller scored 13 points and Miranda Green netted 11 for XU. Bingham scored 10 points and was a clutch 8-of-10 from the charity stripe.

Xavier was 22-of-27 from the free throw line on Friday and shot 43.1 percent (22-of-51) from the field vs. South Carolina, the nation's fifth leading team in field goal percentage defense.

The Musketeers stumbled out of the gate and fell behind 15-7 with 12:30 remaining in the first half when Melanie Johnson converted on one of two free throw attempts.

Xavier would rally though and sprinted out to a 12-4 spurt to knot the score up at 19 when Miller nailed a 3-pointer.

South Carolina would not allow XU to regain the lead though and went into the locker room up 30-28 and scored the first eight points of the second half to go up by 10 points, 38-28, with 16:30 to go.