NEWMAN (7-5,1-3) at No.2/5 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (11-0,3-0)
Thursday, January 7 - 6:00 PM
Rip Griffin Center (Lubbock, Texas)
TV: Fox 34 News Now
Radio: KJTV am950/100.7fm
All-Time Series: LCU leads 3-1
BACK IN THE FLOW
The Lubbock Christian University Lady Chaparrals close out the holiday break and return back to their traditional Thursday/Saturday conference schedule hosting Newman Thursday and Oklahoma Christian Saturday inside Rip Griffin Center. LCU is 11-0 overall on the season and 3-0 in Heartland Conference play. The Lady Chaps, who are amidst playing five games of a seven-game stretch at home, are 5-0 at home this season.
LOOKING BACK AT THE LAST GAME
Lubbock Christian University totaled season-highs in points, rebounds and steals en route to a 96-51 victory over Oklahoma Panhandle State behind Haley Fowler's season-high 18 points and Allison Szabo tying her career-high of 12 rebounds Thursday afternoon inside Rip Griffin Center to move to 11-0 on the season and 3-0 in Heartland Conference play.
Sixteen of Fowler's game-high points came in the first half, including nine within the first five minutes of the contest. Szabo's dozen boards contributed to the season team-best of 49 and 10 Lady Chaps recorded at least one steal on the way to a season-high of 18. LCU (11-0, 3-0 Heartland) used their distinct height advantage to score 50 points in the paint and turned 25 Aggie mishaps into 30 points off of turnovers.
Fowler opened up the afternoon with a baseline drive and another score in the paint and Tess Bruffey added a field goal before OPSU (1-10, 0-3 Heartland) got on the board via a Brittany Alavinejad three-pointer. Bruffey hit a pair of free throws but Alavinejad came through with another shot from beyond the arc to close the game to within 8-6. Fowler again exploded for five successive points, and her teammates joined, as the Lady Chaps went on a 20-0 to extend the lead to 33-10 three minutes into the second quarter.
Bailey Haist entered the game midway through the period and compiled an and-one along with two free throws to up the score to 49-16. The Aggies scored four points in the final minute before the half prior to a Fowler free throw for a 30-point LCU advantage.
A three by Kelsey Hoppel in the third extended the lead to 62-22 for the Lady Chaps, and scores by Claire Bruffey and Olivia Robertson closed out the period with LCU ahead 74-31. After allowing the Aggies to put up 30 points during the first 30 minutes, OPSU managed to allot 20 points in the final 10 minutes despite the Lady Chaps earning their largest lead of the night at 93-42 following seven straight points from Claire Bruffey and a free throw by Antoinette Iroko.
FOR STARTERS
LCU is 12-0 to start the season. It is their best start since opening the 2012-2013 season 16-0. They are one of seven teams entering Wednesday undefeated on the season.
CLOSE THE CALENDAR
With Thursday's win over OPSU, LCU improved to 4-1 all-time in games played on New Year's Eve and closed 2015 with 24-4 record for games played in the 2015 calender year. LCU went 0-2 to open 2015 with losses to Oklahoma City (home) and Newman (road). They had a 13-game and their current 11-game win streak in 2015.
MARGINS
LCU ranks second in the nation in average margin of victory at 27.5, behind only Alaska-Anchorage (30.6). LCU has outscored their opponents by at least 20 points in 10 of their 11 games this season.
BOARDING UP
The Lady Chaps rank eighth in the nation in defensive rebounds per game with an average of 31 per game. Their season high was 44 against Eastern New Mexico. Their rebound margin is creeping up to No.10 in the country and mostly due to the rebounding success over the prior four games, as they have out-rebounded their opponents a combined 166-98 for a +17 rebounding average per game over the four games.
MOVING ON UP
The Lady Chaps made the move up Tuesday to No.5 in the latest WBCA Coaches Poll. Its their best ranking in the poll. They remained No.5 in the D2SIDA Poll. Formula based Hero Sports poll has LCU as the No.1 rated team in NCAA Div. II.
PLAYING THE PERCENTAGES
LCU is the only program in NCAA Div. II which ranks in the top-10 in field goal shooting (third at 49.6%) and field goal defense (7th at holding opponents to a 32.9% shooting mark).
MILESTONE WATCH
- Kelsey Hoppel is two three-point field goal attempts from eclipsing 500 career three-point field goal attempts (four players in program history have 500 or more attempts). Thursday, she moved into fifth place on the program's career three-point field goal attempt list and passed Brandi Grider, who had 495 attempts from 1995-99.
- Tess Bruffey is 13 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 54.0 percent (88/163) from the free-throw line against the Lady Chaps this season. Saint Rose is the next closest at 57.4%. 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 89% of their season through 11 games, with a total amount of time in the lead at 395:23 of their 445 minutes played this season. Their opponents have led a total of 25:12 (5.7%) this season. LCU has led throughout in four games this season and have trailed less than 40 seconds in six of them.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT NU
• The Jets are 7-5 overall on the season, 1-3 in conference and 4-3 on the road. They enter Thursday looking to end a two-game losing streak after a 62-51 loss at home to Texas A&M International Saturday.
• The Heartland Conference preseason polls had Newman preseason picked eighth in the conference.
• Shaunice Robinson registered her seventh double-figure scoring performance of the season Saturday against TAMIU, leading the Jets with 20 points, and it was her first against a conference opponent this season.
• Mali Wright, who tallied 27 points last Thursday in an overtime loss to St. Mary's, leads NU with 12.4 points a game.
• Brianna Caldwell leads the conference and ranks 38th nationally in three-point field goal attempts with 89.
THE SERIES AGAINST NU
The two programs have met four times and all as Heartland Conference foes. LCU leads the all-time series 3-1 and the two teams split the series last season. LCU fell 52-46 on Jan. 8, 2015 in Wichita, Kan., but defeated the Jets in the latest meeting 60-33 (Feb. 7, 2015 in Lubbock).
PRIOR MEETING VS. NU
Feb. 7, 2015 (Lubbock, Texas): LCU 60 - NU 33
Tess Bruffey tallied 22 points and Kellyn Schneider supplied 16 rebounds, and Lubbock Christian University held Newman University to 14 field goals in a 60-33 Heartland Conference win 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.
