OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE ST. (1-8, 0-2) at No.2/12 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (10-0, 2-0)
Thursday, December 31 - 3:30 PM                                                  
Rip Griffin Center (Lubbock, Texas)      
TV: Fox 34 News Now                 
Radio: KJTV am950/100.7fm             
All-Time Series: LCU leads 22-21
Tweet #LCUvsOPSU

BACK FROM THE BREAK
The Lubbock Christian University Lady Chaparrals return from the Christmas Break with their first Heartland Conference home game of the season Thursday hosting Oklahoma Panhandle State at 3:30 p.m. inside Rip Griffin Center. LCU enters 10-0 overall on the season and went 2-0 on Dec. 17 & 19 to open the conference schedule with conference wins at Texas A&M International and St. Mary's. Thursday's game for LCU is their only game of the week.

LOOKING BACK AT THE LAST GAME
Nicole Hampton led five players in double-figures offensively with 19 points and No.4/12 Lubbock Christian University shot a season-high 61.2% en route to a 77-51 victory Saturday in Heartland Conference action to end the Rattlers six-game home win streak at Bill Greehey Arena.
 
LCU was initially in unchartered waters, trailing their largest deficit of the season (14-6) with 3:50 to go in the opening quarter. A minute later, LCU bounced back with a 10-2 run to tie the game 18-18 (7:35 remaining in the second quarter). Combined with LCU out-scoring StMU 20-4 in the second quarter alone, LCU outscored StMU 26-6 over the final 12:51 of the first half. The Lady Chaparrals were 7-of-11 from the field in the second quarter and closed the half hitting five straight field goals. Three of the field goals were by Hampton, who had nine points in the quarter and 13 points in the half.
 
The Rattlers cut the LCU lead to a 10-point lead on two occasions in the third quarter, but LCU never let the lead dip into single digits and took a 52-40 lead into the fourth quarter despite an 8-1 Rattlers run. LCU was 7-for-10 from the field in the fourth quarter. They out-scored StMU 25-11 in the quarter, with a 20-4 advantage in the paint in the quarter.
 
The Lady Chaps were 68% (17/25) from the field in the second half. Kellyn Schneider (2-for-2), Tess Bruffey (3-for-3) and Allison Szabo (3-for-3) combined to go 7-for-7 from the field in the second half. LCU was 14-of-19 (73.7%) inside the perimeter in the second half for a 28-6 scoring advantage in the paint. Haley Fowler led LCU in points in the second half with seven.
 
Nicole Hampton had 19 points and was an assist shy (9) of a double-double. LCU also received 15 points from Kelsey Hoppel, 11 points from Bruffey and 10 points each from Fowler and Szabo. Schneider was impressive with 14 rebounds and six blocks. Bruffey added four blocks for a team total of 10 in the game.
 
While LCU was 61.2% (30/49) from the field, StMU was 31% (18/58) from the field. LCU produced a 50-14 scoring advantage in the paint. StMU received a game-high 20 points from LaBraile Field in the loss.

HAMPTON HONORED
The Heartland Conference announced their weekly honors in women's basketball on Dec. 22 and Lubbock Christian University's Nicole Hampton was named the conference's Player of the Week.
 
Hampton helped LCU to a 2-0 conference start averaging 15 points and eight rebounds on the week. In LCU's 75-55 road win over Texas A&M International, she produced her 35th career double-double (third of the season) with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Hampton followed Saturday (77-51 win at St. Mary's) with 19 points and nine assists. Along with averaging 15 points and eight rebounds, she also averaged 7.5 assists per game and had a 15:4 assist/turnover ratio. She was also a perfect 11-for-11 from the free-throw line.
 
The honor is the first of the season for Hampton and the third in her LCU career. She was a two-time recipient in 2013-2014 as a junior. The Canyon, Texas native is the second Lady Chap to receive the honor this season. Tess Bruffey claimed the honor in Week 2 of the season.

LAST OF 2015 PART I
If you take the 2015 calendar year, LCU heads into Thursday's game with a 23-4 record in games played in the 2015 calender year. LCU went 0-2 to open 2015 with losses to Oklahoma City (home) and Newman (road). They have had a 13-game and a current 10-game win streak in 2015.

LAST OF 2015 PART II
LCU is 3-1 all-time on New Year's Eve. They have won their last two New Year's Eve games, with the last resulting in an 81-64 win at Southern Nazarene on Dec. 31, 2011 (their only prior conference game on New Year's Eve). LCU is 2-1 all-time in New Year's Eve games played under head coach Steve Gomez.
 
BOARDING UP
The Lady Chaps rank ninth in the nation in defensive rebounds per game with an average of 32 per game. Their season high was 44 against Eastern New Mexico. Their rebound margin is creeping up to No.12 in the country and mostly due to the rebounding success over the prior three games, as they have out-rebounded their opponents a combined 117-69 for a +16 rebounding average per game over the three games.

MOVING ON UP
The Lady Chaps made the move up on Dec. 23 to No.2 in the latest D2SIDA Women's Basketball Poll. Its their best ranking in the poll and they also received their first ever "first place vote." They remained No.12 in the WBCA Coaches Poll, which has not conducted a poll since Dec. 15    
 
PLAYING THE PERCENTAGES   
LCU is the only program in NCAA Div. II which ranks in the top-12 in field goal shooting (third at 49.8%) and field goal defense (11th at holding opponents to a 33.2% shooting mark).
           
MILESTONE WATCH
-   Kelsey Hoppel is one three-point field goal attempt  from moving into fifth place on the program's career three-point field goal attempt list and past Brandi Grider, who had 495 attempts from 1995-99.

-   Tess Bruffey is 15 blocks away from passing Candace Clenney and moving into third place on the program's all-time blocks list.

ZANY STAT LINE
LCU leads the nation in a bizarre statistic, as opponents are shooting 53.1 percent (77/145) 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.

TIME WARP
Since the NCAA adapted "quarters" this season, LCU had never trailed after any quarter of play until the first quarter Saturday Dec. 19 at St. Mary's. It ended a streak of 36 consecutive quarters in which LCU had led at the completion of the quarter. LCU has led 88% of their season through 10 games, with a total amount of time in the lead at 355:53 of their 405 minutes played this season. Their opponents have led a total of 25:12 (6%) this season. LCU has led throughout in three games this season and have trailed less than 40 seconds in six of them.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT OPSU
• The Aggies are 1-8 overall on the season, 0-2 in conference and 0-2 on the road. They enter Thursday looking to end a three-game losing streak after a 73-28 loss to Texas A&M International in Laredo prior to the break.
• The Heartland Conference preseason polls had OPSU preseason picked 10th in the conference.
• OPSU had two exhibition games scheduled against NCAA Div. I opponents. They fell 90-45 at Colorado State on Dec. 13 and were to play Tuesday at North Texas, but the game was cancelled due to the weather.
• Tatyana Bell is OPSU's only player averaging double figures offensively with an average of 14.5 points a game. She has only played the prior two games this season.
• OPSU leads the conference and ranks 39th nationally in the fewest turnovers with 133 on the season.

THE SERIES AGAINST OPSU
The two programs have met 43 times all-time and this marks the first time ever the two teams have met with LCU leading the all-time series (22-21). The Lady Chaps have won 15 of the last 17 meetings. LCU swept the season series the last two seasons and have won five consecutive meetings. LCU won the prior meeting in Lubbock 87-51 on Jan. 29, 2015.

PRIOR MEETING VS. OPSU
Jan. 29, 2015 (Lubbock, Texas): LCU 87 - OPSU 51
Lubbock Christian University garnered assists on 27 of their 33 field goals and produced 13 blocks to cruise past Oklahoma Panhandle State University 87-51 in Heartland Conference action at Rip Griffin Center.
 
It was all Lady Chaps in the contest, as LCU opened the game on a 13-0 run. They held OPSU without a field goal for the opening seven minutes of the game. By the time Hannah Tatum connected with OPSU's first field goal, LCU was leading 19-4. LCU received offensive production from 10 different players in the opening half, including 11 points from Bailey Haist. The Lady Chaps led as much as 29 points in the half and led 48-23 at the half off a 56.3% (18/32) shooting performance. They assisted on 16 of 18 field goals, with assists coming from eight different players.
 
Reserves occupied the floor for much of the second half for LCU. LCU led by at least 34 points over the final 12:45 and led as much as 41 points (83-42) in the game. They held OPSU to 26.3% from the field (10/38) in the second half.
 
LCU did not have any players play less than 10 minutes and did not have any players play more than 22 minutes. Ten different players accounted for their 27 assists, with eight coming from Haley Burton in 20 minutes of play. LCU also came one block shy of matching their Rip Griffin Center blocks record, as they had 13 in the contest (LCU has produced 30 block in two combined games against OPSU this season). Tess Bruffey produced six blocks and Kellyn Schneider had five.
 
The Lady Chaps finished the game 55.9% from the field (33/59) and 57.1% (8/14) from three-point range. Haist was 3-of-3 from long range, with Burton (2-of-2) and Blair Taylor (2-of-3) each producing a pair of three-pointers. LCU has now shot over 50% in five of their last six games. Four players were in double figures offensively for LCU, with Allison Szabo leading the way with 14 points. Szabo, who finished with nine rebounds, had eight points and eight rebounds in seven minutes played in the second half. She was joined in double figures by Schneider (11 points), Haist (11 points) and Burton (10 points). OPSU was led in the loss by Kiera Waters and Hannah Tatum, who each had 12 points.