ROGERS STATE (4-9, 2-3) at LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (9-5, 3-1)
Thursday, January 15 - 6:00 PM                                                     
Rip Griffin Center (Lubbock, Texas)
TV: Fox 34 News Now (Chris Due / John Hill)
Radio: KJTV AM950/100.7FM (Chris Due / John Hill)
All-Time Series: LCU leads 10-5

HOME FOR HEARTLAND PLAY
Lubbock Christian University has not had a Heartland Conference home game since Dec. 20 and they return home for conference action hosting Rogers State University Thursday and Arkansas - Fort Smith Saturday inside Rip Griffin Center. LCU is 5-2 at home this season and they are 12-0 all-time in Heartland Conference home games on their home floor. LCU, with a game-in-hand, enters the week in fourth place in the conference with a 3-1 mark, as St. Edward's, Texas-Permian Basin and Arkansas-Fort Smith are each 4-1 tied atop the conference.

LOOKING BACK AT THE LAST GAME
Tess Bruffey (19 points) and Bailey Haist (17 points) combined for 36 of Lubbock Christian University's 46 points off the bench and LCU rebounded from a 10-point second half deficit to defeat Oklahoma Christian University 69-64 Saturday at Eagles' Nest in Heartland Conference play.

LCU trailed 39-29 2:26 into the second half before mounting their comeback. Blair Taylor nailed a three-pointer and followed with an air-ball that resulted in a perfect pass to Kellyn Schneider, who put it up and in for a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to 39-34 with 15:41 remaining. The Lady Chaps trailed 55-49 with 5:35 remaining and had another rally spearheaded by a Taylor three-pointer. She connected from long dis-tance to start an 8-0 run capped by a three-point play by Bruffey to give LCU a 57-55 lead for the 10th lead change of the game. LCU would never trail the rest of the way and received a big three-pointer by Haist with 1:48 remaining to turn a 61-60 lead into a 64-60 LCU lead.

The Lady Chaps, coming off one of their worst contests in recent memory Thursday, shuffled the starting line-up Saturday, with Claire Bruffey, Callie Sandusky and Morgan Dean receiving their first career start. Taylor, with 11 points, was the only starter to produce double figures offensively. LCU trailed 32-26 at the half after shooting 34.5% (10/29) from the field in the half.

LCU held Oklahoma Christian to a 26.7% (8/30) shooting mark in the first half and a 33.3% (20/60) shoot-ing mark in the game. Oklahoma Christian did out-score LCU 17-5 in points off turnovers after forcing LCU into 22 turnovers.

Sydney Hill led all scorers with 21 points in the losing cause. McKenzie Stanford joined her with 13 points to aid the OC offense. Tess Bruffey's 19 points and Haist's 17 points were each a career high. Schneider led all players with 10 rebounds and also had four of LCU's 10 blocks. Haist matched a career high with four three-pointers (third time this season).

The Lady Chaps have won 14 of the prior 17 meetings against the Lady Eagles.

STREAK STILL STANDING
The Lady Chaps have had a lot of streaks over the past three seasons, as they have gone 65-10 since the start of the 2012-2013 season. One streak still remaining in an 18-game home conference win streak. Their last home loss in conference play was Jan. 10, 2010 against Oklahoma City University. They are 12-0 all-time in Heartland Conference home games.

STARTING THINGS OFF
LCU head coach Steve Gomez changed up the starting line-up Saturday at Oklahoma Christian with Claire Bruffey, Callie Sandusky and Morgan Dean each receiving their first start of the season. Last season, LCU used the same five starters for every game. This season, 10 different players have had a start and Haley Burton is the only player to start in all 14 games this season.
 
BLOCKING IT OUT    
The Lady Chaps rank second among all NCAA Div. II programs with 128 blocks this season. Their pace of 9.1 per game ranks second behind Emporia State (9.4). Individually, Kellyn Schneider (55) and Tess Bruffey (50) are both atop the Heartland Conference in blocks. Schneider's 55 blocks ranks fourth amongst NCAA Div. II leaders and Bruffey ranks tied for fifth. The two Lady Chaps marks already have them each in the top-three single-season totals in program history.
    
TIME IS ON HER SIDE
Senior Haley Burton has played in all 40 minutes in the prior three consecutive games. She has played in all 40 minutes in seven contests this season. Burton averages a conference leading 36.9 minutes a game this season and her 517 total minutes is 28 minutes more than the next closest player with the same amount of games played.

BOARD TALK
LCU had only out-rebounded their opponent twice through their first nine games this season, but they have out-rebounded in each of their four conference games this season and in their last five consecutive games played. They had 29 more rebounds than Texas A&M International in their Dec. 18th meeting. That is the biggest advantage since a +33 advantage against Mid-America Christian on Jan. 12, 2013.
 
HELPING HAND
Haley Burton, who has never eclipsed 100 assists in a single season while at LCU, is six assists away from 100 on the season. She leads the Heartland Conference with 6.7 assists per game and a total of 94. The mark ranks her sixth nationally in total assists and seventh in assists per game. She also leads the conference in assist/turnover ratio with a mark of 2.0.

CHARITY STRIPE SUCCESS
Prior to making the move to NCAA Division II, LCU was in the top-10 in the NAIA in free-throw shooting for eight consecutive seasons: 12/13 (1st), 11/12 (1st), 10/11 (9th), 09/10 (5th), 08/09 (2nd), 07/08 (1st), 06/07 (6th) and 05/06 (9th). Last season, LCU led the conference with a 78.1% shooting mark from the free-throw line, which ranked fifth in NCAA Division II. Hoppel set the program's single season free-throw shooting mark last season at 93.8%. It broke Nicole Hampton's mark of 92.4% from the 2011-2012 sea-son. This season, LCU ranks second in the Heartland Conference from the charity stripe with a mark of 73.0%. Allison Szabo is second in the conference with a mark of 86.0% (43/50).

ABOUT RSU
The Hillcats were winless (0-3) in conference play this season until consecutive home games this past weekend at home to improve to 2-3 in conference. The 4-9 overall squad is 1-5 overall on the road this season RSU was in a stretch of losing eight of nine games until wins over Texas A&M International and St. Mary's for new head coach Bobby Cope's first conference wins. They are led in scoring by Mikaila Newton, who is the only Hillcat averaging double figures with 10.8 points a game. She averaged 16 points a game in the two wins last weekend, with 19 posted against StMU. Against StMU, RSU set a program single-game record going 26-of-27 (96.3%) from the free-throw line.      

THE SERIES AGAINST RSU
LCU has a 10-5 advantage in the all-time series after a 94-75 win in Lubbock on Jan. 30. LCU swept the season series last season and has won six of the last seven meetings, including the last three.

THE LAST MEETING AGAINST RSU
Jan. 30, 2014 (Lubbock, Texas) - LCU: 94 / RSU 75
Haley Burton produced a career-high 28 points, matching a career high with six three-pointers, and Lub-bock Christian University produced 14 three-pointers to cruise past Rogers State University 94-75 in Heartland Conference action inside Rip Griffin Center.

LCU had to play from behind in the first half, missing their first six shot attempts to fall behind 7-2. They would eventually to fight back from a 13-5 deficit in the half. LCU went on a 10-2 run midway through the half and back-to-back three-pointers by Kelsey Hoppel, during the run, gave LCU a 28-25 lead with 9:57 left in the half. LCU would not trail from that point on. The 10-2 run was part of a 22-6 run by LCU to close the half with a 45-34 lead. Burton led LCU with 14 points in the half.

RSU rallied back early in the second half with a 12-4 advantage to cut LCU's lead to 52-48 with 16:32 re-maining. Burton answered with a layup and it was followed by a three-pointer by Hoppel for a 59-48 LCU lead. The trey by Hoppel was her 159th of her career tying her for fourth all-time in program history (with Brandi Grider from 1995-99). LCU would eventually surge with a 19-1 run, holding RSU without a field goal for a span of 5:53, leading to a 79-54 lead with 7:34 left.

Burton had 14 more in the second half leading to her career-high night. She was 9-of-13 from the field in the game and was 6-of-8 from long range. Her six treys matched a career high and she was a three-pointer shy of the Lady Chaps program single-game Rip Griffin Center record. The team produced 14 three-pointers, which was one shy from a season high in three-pointers and one shy of matching the are-na record (15 done twice this season). Half (14) of LCU's 28 field goals were from long distance, as they were 14-of-25 (56%) from downtown. They were 14-of-35 (40%) inside the arc. RSU opened the game 2-of-4 from three-point range before going 3-for-20 (15%) the rest of the way.

Along with Burton's 28 points, LCU received 13 points from Emily Pool, 12 points from Kelsey Hoppel, 11 points from Nicole Hampton and 10 from Haley Fowler, as LCU had five players in double figures. Pool's 13 points placed her with 1,600 career points. Hampton co-led LCU with eight rebounds and she moved into fourth place all-time in career rebounds. Her 728 career rebounds moved her past Beth Capps (721 from 1993-97) on LCU's all-time list. RSU did out-score LCU 28-20 in the paint and they re-ceived 17 points from Katy Harsen. Clarissa Cannon posted 15 points and Breanna Burford contributed 11 points in the loss for the Hillcats.