LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (17-5, 11-1) at ARKANSAS - FORT SMITH (13-7, 11-2)
Thursday, February 12 - 5:30 PM                                                 
Stubblefield Center (Fort Smith, Ark.)
Radio: KJTV AM950/100.7FM     
All-Time Series: LCU leads 3-0
Tweet #LCUvsUAFS

BATTLE FOR THE HEARTLAND
Lubbock Christian University heads on their easternmost road swing and faces a pair of tough battles beginning with a clash Thursday at Arkansas - Fort Smith before heading Saturday to Rogers State Uni-versity in Claremore, Okla. The top spot in the Heartland Conference is up for grabs Thursday, as LCU (17-5 overall) takes a nine-game win streak and a conference-leading 11-1 record to Fort Smith, Ark. to face a UAFS squad that is 11-2 in conference play and has won six straight games.

LOOKING BACK AT THE LAST GAME
Tess Bruffey tallied 22 points and Kellyn Schneider supplied 16 rebounds, and Lubbock Christian Uni-versity held Newman University to 14 field goals in a 60-33 Heartland Conference win Saturday afternoon inside Rip Griffin Center.

The 33 points allowed was the fewest points LCU has allowed since holding Arlington Baptist College to 30 on Nov. 20, 2012. Newman, who did not have any points from the free-throw line in the game, only tallied 14 field goals, which is the least amount by a Chaps opponent since John Brown was held to 14 on Feb. 16, 2013.

Newman was held to six field goals in the first half, as they shot 20.7% from the field (6/29). LCU opened the game on a 5-0 run and led in double figures nearly halfway into the first half after Tess Bruffey knocked down one of three three-pointers to make it 18-8 with 10:37 left in the half. It was part of a 12-0 run to give LCU a 24-8 lead with seven minutes remaining in the opening half. Bruffey was 5-of-6 from the field in the half and her 14 points in the half helped LCU take a 29-14 lead into the locker room. Neither team had a second chance point in the half (LCU did not have one offensive rebound in the half).

LCU did not ease back in the second half. They never let their lead dip under 14 and had at least a 20-point lead for the game's final 15 minutes. LCU produced 31 points which was two points shy than what Newman had for the entire game.

The Lady Chaps were 43.4% (23/53) from the field and held Newman to a 22.6% (14/62) shooting mark. Newman did not have one player in double figures in points. LCU received a career-high 22 points from Bruffey and 11 points from Haley Fowler. Bruffey was 8-of-9 from the field and went 3-for-3 behind the arc and behind the free-throw line. Schneider had 16 rebounds (all defensive) and six blocks.

STREAK STILL STANDING
The Lady Chaps have had a lot of streaks over the past three seasons, as they have gone 73-10 since the start of the 2012-2013 season. One streak still remaining is a 23-game home conference win streak. Their last home loss in conference play was Jan. 10, 2013 against Oklahoma City University. They are 15-0 all-time in Heartland Conference home games.

ASSISTS FOR BURTON SINGLE SEASON
Senior point guard Haley Burton has 150 assists on the season and is averaging a conference-leading 6.8 assists per game (fifth in NCAA Div. II). She is four assists away from moving into the top five for LCU single-season assists mark. Last week, she moved into fourth all-time on LCU's career assists lead-ers list with 405.
 
BLOCKING IT OUT    
The Lady Chaps lead all NCAA Div. II programs with 201 blocks this season. Their pace of 9.1 leads all NCAA Div. II programs as well. Individually, Kellyn Schneider (89) and Tess Bruffey (67) are both atop the Heartland Conference in blocks. Schneider's 89 blocks (already a Conference and program single sea-son record) ranks fourth amongst NCAA Div. II leaders and Bruffey ranks seventh. The two Lady Chaps marks already have them each in the top-three single-season totals in program history, and they rank in the top five amongst LCU's career leaders as well.
    
READY, AIM, FIRE
Only three players in Heartland Conference are shooting 50% are better from the field this season. Two of the three are Lady Chaps, as Allison Szabo leads the Heartland Conference with a shooting mark of 55.5% (19th in the nation) and Tess Bruffey sits third in the conference at 50.5%. Szabo, a sophomore from Merkel, Texas also leads the conference in free-throw shooting at 89% (19th in the nation). She is 10-for-10 from the line over the prior two games and enters the week 24-of-25 over the past seven games.

THREE-POINT SHOOTING
LCU leads the Heartland Conference in three-point field goal shooting with a mark of 36%. Individually, LCU leads the conference in individual field goal shooting, free-throw shooting and nearly three-point shooting. Bailey Haist (45.4%) and Blair Taylor (43.3%) are second and third in the conference in three-point individual shooting percentage.
 
ON THE REBOUND
Kellyn Schneider enters the week leading the Heartland Conference in defensive rebounds per game (8.4). She ranks third overall in the conference with an average of 10.3 rebounds per game.

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 fourth in the Heartland Conference from the charity stripe with a mark of 72.9%.

ABOUT UAFS
The Lady Lions, who opened the season 1-5, have since gone 12-2. One of the two losses was on Jan. 17 to LCU, and they have gone 6-0 since the loss. UAFS sits behind LCU with an average of 75.5 points per game. Former Frenship High School and South Plains College product Jasmine Brainard leads the team averaging 14.9 points a game. She heads up the inside-out balance, which has Candice Followwell leading the conference 46.9% (38/81) from three-point range and Angi Ramey leading the conference in rebounding (12.5).

THE SERIES AGAINST UAFS
LCU swept the season series last season and holds a 3-0 all-time mark against the Lady Lions. The last meeting was in Lubbock on Jan. 17, with LCU winning 75-63. The last meeting in Fort Smith was on Dec. 6, 2013, with LCU winning 103-78 in a contest postponed due to snow.

THE LAST MEETING AGAINST UAFS
Jan. 17, 2015 (Lubbock, Texas) - LCU: 75 / UAFS 63
Four Lady Chaparrals scored at least 14 points, including a team-leading 17 points from Tess Bruffey, a double-double from Haley Burton (14-points, 12-assists) and a career-high 15 points from Blair Taylor, and the balanced production helped Lubbock Christian University to a 75-63 Heartland Conference win over University of Arkansas Fort Smith to move atop the conference standings Saturday afternoon at Rip Griffin Center.

The opening five minutes featured five lead changes, but then LCU went on a scoring roll. They went on a 9-0 run to turn a 6-5 deficit into a 14-6 lead under seven minutes into the game. A series of free throws by UAFS's Skai Thompson ended the run and pulled the Lady Lions within four (14-10), but a pair of lay-ups by Taylor highlighted a 6-0 run and LCU led 20-10 with 10:52 remaining in the half. Taylor and Burton went on to connect on three-pointers inside seven minutes remaining in the half and a 12-1 LCU run had LCU leading 38-18 with six minutes left before the break. LCU held UAFS to a 28.1% (9/32) shooting mark in the opening half and led 45-30 at halftime.

UAFS rallied back in the second half. They opened the half on a 15-4 run, with Sydney Franklin scoring seven of the points off a trio of field goals to cut LCU's lead to 49-44 five minutes into the half. Bailey Haist ended the run for LCU with one of the team's six three-pointers in the second half (Haist had three in the half). The Lady Lions hung around and trailed 62-54 (11:17 remaining) until Haist connected on an-other long range shot, which sparked a 9-0 LCU run to push their lead to 71-54 with 6:43 remaining.

LCU out-rebounded UAFS 28-18 in the first half, but were out-rebounded 29-16 in the second half.  LCU's streak of six consecutive games out-rebounding their opposition ended, as UAFS had a 47-44 edge in rebounding. The Lady Chaps also outscored UAFS 22-10 in the paint during the first half before being outscored 22-8 in the paint for the second half (UAFS led the total 32-30).

The Lady Lions finished the game 33.3% (23/69) from the field. They had a miserable time at the charity stripe, as were only successful on 12 of 23 opportunities (52.2%). The mark was ironically the lowest by an LCU opponent since Dec. 6, 2013 when UAFS was 51.5% against the Lady Chaps from the line. UAFS did receive success from Franklin, Angi Ramey, Thompson and Lubbock native Jasmine Brainard. Frank-lin shared a game-high and produced a season best 17 points, with Brainard adding 16 points and Thompson contributing 11 points. Ramey recorded a game high 17 rebounds.

Lubbock Christian assisted on 20 of their 25 field goals, with Burton producing a career-high 12 assists as part of her third career double-double. Bruffey led LCU with 17 points and they also received 15 points from Haist and Taylor each. Haist tied a career mark for three-pointers for a fourth time this sea-son with four three-point field goals. Schneider led LCU with 16 rebounds. Five different Lady Chaps went perfect from the line and the team was 84.2% (16/19) from the free-throw line.