Saturday, April 25, 2015

Gold Nuggets Add Transfers to Increase Recruiting Class to 3


NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana announced Friday the signing of Amani Davis of Cypress, Texas, and Caitlyn Spane of Jackson, Miss., to women's basketball scholarships. Both are 5 feet 11 inches tall; Davis is a forward/center, and Spane is a forward/guard.

Davis averaged 6.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game the past two seasons for McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas. She scored in double figures 13 times and had a pair of double-figure rebounding games. As a freshman in 2013-14, Davis was honorable-mention all-region and helped McLennan's Highlassies qualify for the regional tournament.

Davis graduated from Cypress Springs High School in 2013. She was first-team all-district as a senior and won team awards for MVP and most improved player. Her single-game highs included 17 points and 15 rebounds.

Spane will transfer from the University of North Florida, an NCAA Division I member in Jacksonville. She averaged 2.9 points and 2.4 rebounds for UNF in 2014-15 and produced a double-double — 14 points and 10 rebounds — against Edward Waters, one of Xavier's Gulf Coast Athletic Conference opponents. She scored 10 points and made 2-of-2 3-pointers against NCAA DI Tennessee State, the Ohio Valley Conference tournament champion last season.

Spane averaged 9.1 points and 6.9 rebounds in two seasons at Jones County Junior College in Ellisville, Miss., and helped the Lady Bobcats win the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges state championship her sophomore year. She was a three-year basketball starter and a four-year volleyball starter at Terry (Miss.) High School and had a 32-point game as a senior in which she was 15-of-15 from the floor.

Davis will be a biology/pre-medical major at Xavier, and she hopes to become an orthopedic surgeon. Spane will major in political science. Both were honor-roll students in high school, and Davis made the honor roll multiple times at McLennan.

"Amani and Caitlyn are two nice additions to our program," XU coach Bo Browder said. "Both are versatile players. They will help our inside and outside game next season. We did not have enough of those types of players last season."

The Gold Nuggets have signed three for 2015-16. Guard Mikayla Bates of Baton Rouge, La., signed last week.

Xavier was 18-15 in 2014-15 and finished second in the GCAC regular season and tournament. The Gold Nuggets qualified for the NAIA Division I National Championship 18 of the past 21 seasons.

2015-16 Xavier women's basketball signees
Name Pos. Ht. Yr.* Hometown High School (College)
Mikayla Bates G 5-7 Fr. Baton Rouge, La. University
Amani Davis F/C 5-11 Jr. Cypress, Texas Cypress Springs (McLennan CC)
Caitlyn Spane F/G 5-11 Sr. Jackson, Miss. Terry (Jones County JC/North Florida)
* athletic classification at Xavier in 2015-16

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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