MIDWESTERN STATE (1-6) at No.6/14 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (6-0)
Thursday, December 3 - 6:00 PM                                                    
Rip Griffin Center (Lubbock, Texas)
TV: Fox 34 News Now
Radio: KJTV am950/100.7fm        
All-Time Series: MSU leads 22-5
Tweet #LCUvsMSU

KICK BACK AND STAY A WHILE
The Lubbock Christian University Lady Chaparrals have been on the road four of the past five weekends and now play five of their next seven games at home, beginning with a Thursday night tip against Midwestern State University inside Rip Griffin Center.
 
LOOKING BACK AT THE LAST GAME
Lubbock Christian University left Warden Arena Saturday with some hardware. The trophy was not to signify their 1,000th game in program history, but to recognize the Lady Chaparrals for winning the title game of the Rollins College Thanksgiving Tournament, as Nicole Hampton's double-double of 17 rebounds (career high) and 11 points led them to a 66-38 win over Rollins.
 
LCU won by 28 points despite producing their worst shooting percentage since Feb. 2, 2013 (37.3%). Twenty-Four hours following Friday's 82.4% second half shooting performance, Lubbock Christian was 42.9% from the field Saturday (22/56).
 
Through the opening 11 field goal attempts by LCU, Hampton was 3-of-5 from the field, but the rest of the team was a combined 0-of-6. Rollins led 8-5 halfway into the first quarter before LCU finally found their groove… a term used loosely as it would be their only groove of the game. LCU closed the first half out-scoring Rollins 9-4, as Tess Bruffey and Bailey Haist drained three-pointers in the stretch to give LCU a 16-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.
 
Fortunately for LCU, their defense helped counter their bad shooting performance. Midway through the second quarter, LCU held Rollins to a 1-for-18 (5.5%) shooting stretch over a 12-minute span. Meanwhile, LCU went on a 20-2 run, with 18 of the points occurring in the second quarter. Neither team scored for the opening 2:31 of the quarter and it took 3:36 before the first field goal was made in the half. Despite the large run, LCU went a span of 4:22 of the run without a field goal.
 
Kellyn Schneider and Allison Szabo produced LCU's only field goals of the third quarter, as LCU went 2-of-9 (22.2%) from the field in the quarter. They had four points from the field in the quarter, but still outscored Rollins 13-9 in the quarter, as LCU had nine points in the quarter from the free-throw line (9-of-10 from the line in the quarter.
 
The fourth quarter was not much different. LCU missed their first four field goal attempts, but closed the game going 5-of-8 from the field with a three-pointer by Bobbi Chitsey closing the scoring for LCU.
 
Rollins (3-3) was never able to seize the opportunity. The closest the Tars were able to rally back was cutting LCU's lead to 53-36 with 6:05 to go in the fourth quarter. LCU responded on a 13-2 run to close the game.
 
LCU was cold from the field, but Rollins was colder. The Tars were 28.3% (15/53) from the field and 20% (3/15) from long-range. It marks the third time (out of six games) the Lady Chaps have held their opponent to under a 29% shooting mark in a game (LCU held opponents to under 29% shooting in a total of eight games last season). Only one Tar had over six points from the field, as Jasmine Stone led Rollins with 12 points.
 
Hampton recorded her second double-double of the season and the 34th of her LCU career. She nearly had it achieved at the half (10 points and nine rebounds at halftime). The mark in rebounds is the most since Schneider had 18 last season (Jan. 15, 2015) against Rogers State.
 
Kelsey Hoppel led all scorers in the game with 14 points. She went 4-for-9 from three-point range. LCU also received 13 points from Tess Bruffey. LCU out-scored Rollins 22-4 in paint scoring, 15-9 in points off turnovers (5-0 in the first half), 13-6 in second chance scoring and 19-8 in bench production.
 
Bruffey received All-Tournament Team honors and Hampton claimed the Tournament MVP accolade. LCU improved to 6-0 on the season and 2-0 in true road games (2-0 in neutral site games for a mark of 4-0 total in games played away from home).
 
TON OF GAMES
Saturday's game at Rollins marked the 1,000th game in program history. The win places their all-time program record at 561-439 (56.1%).
 
OFF TO A GOOD START
LCU is 6-0 to start the season. It is their best start since opening the 2012-2013 season 16-0.  They are one of 38 teams entering Wednesday undefeated on the season.
 
BOARDING UP
The Lady Chaps rank sixth in the nation in defensive rebounds per game with an average of 33 per game. Their season high was 44 against Eastern New Mexico.
 
MOVING ON UP
The Lady Chaps had the biggest jump in the WBCA/USA Today Coaches Poll, moving up from No.18 to No.14. They also moved to No.6 (from No.8) in the D2SIDA Poll.    
 
BIG WINS IN CENTRAL FLORIDA     
LCU captured the Rollins Thanksgiving Tournament title with wins over Clayton State and Rollins. In LCU's 66-38 win over Rollins (a program that has made four straight NCAA appearances), the Lady Chaps handed the Tars their biggest deficit in a loss (28 points) since 11/15/13.
LCU also defeated previously unbeaten Clayton State (2011 national champs and traditionally in the NCAA postseason) 79-54 and the 25-point deficit was Clayton's biggest since 1/19/09.
           
MILESTONE WATCH
-   Kelsey Hoppel, who eclipsed 200 career three pointers in Florida Saturday, is three three-pointers away from moving past Haley Burton (204) and into third all-time in program history for career three-pointers.
-   Nicole Hampton is one rebounds shy of passing Darla Lynch (838) and moving into second on the program's all-time rebound list.

ZANY STAT LINE
LCU opponents are shooting 51 percent (52/102) from the free-throw line against the Lady Chaps this season. The best an opponent has done against LCU this season is Fort Lewis, who shot 65% (13-20) from the line against LCU.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT MSU
• The Mustangs are 1-6 on the season and are 0-1 on the road. Their lone road game was their prior game: a 100-58 loss to Arkansas - Fort Smith. The meeting with LCU is the second of six straight on the road, which has MSU in Arkansas, Texas and Nevada.
• The Lone Star Conference has Midwestern State preseason picked third in the conference. They are coming off a 23-7 season and a trip to the South Central Regional Tournament.
• Eighth year head coach Noel Johnson has ties to Lubbock, as she was a member of Texas Tech University from 1991-95 where she helped the Lady Raiders to four-straight Southwest Conference championships, four NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearances and a national championship in 1993.
• MSU is on a four-game losing streak and trying to rebuild a team that lost five starters from last season.
• Krishawn Crockett leads the Mustangs with 7.6 points a game. She has produced double figures in three of their last four games, including a 12-point performance  against UAFS.   

THE SERIES AGAINST MSU
The Mustangs command the all-time series with a 22-5 series record over LCU, which includes 11 consecutive wins. The Lady Chaps and MSU had met 26 times prior to last season's meeting, which marked the first meeting since Feb. 12, 1994. LCU documents have MSU leading the all-time series 21-5 and MSU has MSU leading the series 21-6. There were some MSU forfeitures in the mix, which enters in the confusion. MSU has won 11 straight meetings heading into Saturday and LCU has not had a non-forfeit win in the series since Jan. 27, 1990. LCU is 5-7 all-time in Lubbock in the series (0-14 in Wichita Falls).  The last meeting in Lubbock was on Jan. 28, 1994 with MSU winning 92-88 in the LCU Fieldhouse.

PRIOR MEETING VS. MSU
Dec. 13, 2014 (Wichita Falls, Texas): LCU 70 - MSU 73
Tess Bruffey set the Lubbock Christian University single-game blocks record with 10 denials, Haley Fowler produced a career high 24 points and Haley Burton notched her second career double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds), but the performances were not good enough to keep the NCAA Div. II's longest active road winning streak alive. No.24 Midwestern State used 22 offensive rebounds and an 87% (20/23) free-throw percentage to hold on for a 73-70 win over LCU Saturday night at Ligon Coliseum, ending LCU's 17-game road win streak.
 
Losing in Wichita Falls was a trend the Lady Chaps were trying to buck. LCU, now 0-14 all-time against Midwestern State in Wichita Falls, was playing their 27th all-time meeting against MSU, but their first since Feb. 12, 1994. Back then, the two teams were NAIA regional foes and the Mustangs were still known as the Indians.
 
LCU had to rally back Saturday night for the opportunity to end that Wichita Falls skid and to attempt to keep MSU from garnering their 11th straight win in the all-time series. Midwestern State had their largest lead at 63-53 with 9:29 remaining in the contest. LCU went on an 11-4 run over the next five minutes to pull within 67-64. They were 5-of-5 from the field during the stretch, with Fowler producing two of the field goals. They could have produced a better run, but they committed six turnovers during the span. Meanwhile, MSU closed the game making three of their last 10 field goal attempts and going without a field goal over the final 2:03. The made field goal, by Dianna Jones, provided MSU a 71-67 lead. Fowler split a trip to the free-throw line and Bailey Haist had a baseline lay-up to cut the deficit to 71-70 with 15 seconds to go. They fouled Jones with nine seconds left and she made both free-throws to extend the MSU lead to 73-70. LCU had an opportunity to produce a three-point shot to force overtime but they never got a three-point shot off.
 
The Lady Chaps trailed 38-32 at halftime after MSU closed the half outscoring LCU 16-7 over the final seven minutes, including a 9-2 run over the half's final three minutes. There were four lead changes in the first half, with LCU never leading by more than three points.
 
In the paint, LCU outscored MSU 48-28 and had 15 blocks. The 15 blocks is the highest block total for LCU under head coach Steve Gomez's coaching reign at LCU (in his 12th season) and it was two blocks off the program's single game record of 17 from Feb. 19, 1991 (vs. Hardin-Simmons). The 15 blocks sets a new Heartland Conference record (prior high was 14). Bruffey not only topped her prior and school single-game record of nine, but also broke the Heartland Conference single-game record. The mark matches the most produced in NCAA Div.II this season (two other players have completed the task nationally).
 
Bruffey missed out on an incredible stat line, as she had eight points and eight rebounds to go along with her 10 blocks. Burton was an assist shy of a career high with 10 assists in recording her first double-double of the season. Fowler went 11-of-14 from the field and had six boards and four assists in her career scoring night (prior career high was 19).
 
MSU registered 22 offensive rebounds, leading to a 19-3 scoring edge in second chance scoring. Andrea Carter produced a double-double for MSU with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Jones led MSU in scoring with 24 points. The Mustangs excelled at the charity stripe, going 20-of-23 from the line (87%). It was the best shooting performance from the line by an LCU opponent shooting at least 20 attempts since Southern Nazarene was 91.9% (34/37) on Mar. 4, 2011.
 
The Lady Chaps were 49.1% (27-55) from the field in the game and held MSU to 36.9% (24/65) from the field.