OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN (6-8, 3-1) at LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (12-0, 4-0)
Saturday, January 9 - 1:00 PM                                                     
Rip Griffin Center (Lubbock, Texas)
Radio: KJTV am950/100.7fm                                                            
All-Time Series: OC leads 29-19
Tweet #LCUvsOC

BIRDS BATTLE AT THE RIP
The Lubbock Christian University Lady Chaparrals close out the week Saturday hosting Oklahoma Christian at 1 p.m. inside Rip Griffin Center. LCU is 12-0 overall on the season and 4-0 in Heartland Conference play. The Lady Chaps are closing out a seven-game span in which five of the games are home games, and they are 6-0 at home this season.

LOOKING BACK AT THE LAST GAME
No.2/5 Lubbock Christian University opened the game on a 21-0 run and never looked back to defeat Newman University 87-42 Thursday night in Heartland Conference action inside Rip Griffin Center.
 
The Lady Chaparrals offensive surge to open the game included LCU connecting on their first 10 shot attempts. Kelsey Hoppel who led all scorers with 17 points, had 11 points in the opening four minutes of the game. Her and Nicole Hampton, who had back-to-back three-pointers to close out the 21-0 run, combined for 19 of the 21 points to open the game. While LCU opened the game 10-of-10 from the field, it was a different start for the Jets. Newman missed their first seven shot attempts and committed five turnovers before Ashley Gonzalez ended the 21-0 run with a field goal with 4:11 remaining in the first quarter. LCU did not miss a field goal attempt until their 11th attempt, which came with 1:59 remaining in the quarter. LCU led 29-8 at the end of the opening quarter.
 
The Lady Chaps out-scored the Jets 10-0 in paint scoring in the second quarter and used a Bobbi Chitsey three-pointer at the horn to take a 53-19 lead into the locker room at halftime. LCU was 69.2% (18/26) from the field in the opening half and 5-for-9 (55.6%) from three-point range. Hoppel had all of her 17 points in the first half. Forty-six (46) of LCU's 53 points in the first half came from starters and no starter played more than 14 minutes in the first half. LCU produced 11 steals in the first half and held NU to a 19.4% shooting mark in the half, with only six field goals allowed (6/31).
 
LCU's bench saw most of the floor in the second half. The Lady Chaps played all 14 players in the game and no starter played more than 20 minutes in the game (no player played less than eight minutes). LCU still shot 42.9% (6-of-14) from three-point range in the half and led as much as 52 points on two occasions in the fourth quarter.
 
The Lady Chaps finished the game 51.8% (29/56) from the field and 47.8% (11/23) from long range. LCU assisted on 21 of their 29 field goals and had six assists from Kellyn Schneider, who matched a career high. Four Lady Chaps finished in double figures, with Hampton (15 points), Haley Fowler (12 points) and Tess Bruffey (12 points) joining Hoppel. Newman, who finished the game 25.8% from the field (16/62) did not have any player with more than nine points. Hoppel opened the game 2-of-2 from three-point range and the two attempts placed her with 500 career three-point attempts to mark the fifth player to hit that plateau in program history.
 
LCU improved to 12-0 with the win and 4-0 in conference play. Newman fell to 7-6 overall and 1-4 in conference. The Lady Chaps remain home Saturday and will host Oklahoma Christian at 1 p.m. inside Rip Griffin Center.

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.

MARGINS
LCU ranks second in the nation in average margin of victory at 28.9, behind only Alaska-Anchorage (31.8). LCU has outscored their opponents by at least 20 points in 11 of their 12 games this season.
 
BOARDING UP
The Lady Chaps rank ninth 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.11 in the country and mostly due to the rebounding success over the prior five games, as they have out-rebounded their opponents a combined 205-135 for a +14 rebounding average per game over the five games.

MOVING ON UP
The Lady Chaps made the move up on Tuesday to No.5 in the latest WBCA Coaches Poll. Its their best ranking in the poll. They remained No.2 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 became the fifth Lady Chaps player all-time with 500 career three-point attempts Thursday. She hit the mark in the opening quarter of LCU's win over Newman.

-   Tess Bruffey is 11 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 53.8 percent (93/173) 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 90% of their season through 11 games, with a total amount of time in the lead at 435:03 of their 485 minutes played this season. Their opponents have led a total of 25:12 (5.2%) this season. LCU has led throughout in five games this season and have trailed less than 40 seconds in eight of them.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT OC
• The Lady Eagles are 6-8 overall on the season and 3-1 in conference to enter the week. They defeated Oklahoma Panhandle State Thursday 101-81. They bring with them Aisha Martin, a Lorenzo, Texas native closing out her college career with her senior campaign.
• The Heartland Conference preseason polls had OC preseason picked seventh in the conference.
• OC had a three-game win streak until falling 96-85 at home Saturday to St. Mary's. They have won four of their last five games, which followed a 1-4 stretch.
• Sarah Parker, who recorded 23 points in the loss to StMU, leads OC with 15.8 points a game. She had 16 at OPSU Thursday.
• The Lady Eagles enter the game leading the nation with 278 free-throws made this season. They rank 30th nationally in free-throw percentage (75.5%).   

THE SERIES AGAINST OC
OC leads the all-time series 29-19 dating back to 1979. Despite trailing the all-time series, LCU has won 15 of the last 18 meetings. The Lady Chaps have won the prior eight meetings, with OC's last win coming on Feb. 17, 2011. Both teams are former Sooner Athletic Conference foes.

PRIOR MEETING VS. OC
Feb. 5, 2015 (Lubbock, Texas): LCU 69 - OC 50
A defensive effort of a season-high 17 steals and 21 forced turnovers, combined with a double-double from Kellyn Schneider, helped Lubbock Christian University extend their win streak to eight games with a 69-50 Heartland Conference home win over Oklahoma Christian University inside Rip Griffin Center.
 
LCU had a streak of 12 consecutive games in which they committed more turnovers than their opposition end in the contest, as LCU forced 21 turnovers. The Lady Chaps did commit 20 turnovers, but they had a 19-5 scoring advantage in points off turnovers. LCU produced 11 blocks in the game and also held Oklahoma Christian to 27.3% (18/66) from the field. Their 17 steals marked their most since Jan. 5, 2013 against St. Gregory's.
 
The game was a lot closer than the 19-point margin indicates. The first half included seven lead changes. A 7-0 run by OC had them up 24-19 before going in a shooting drought. LCU had a 9-0 run, and in the middle of the run was a four minute span in which neither team scored and the teams combined for eight turnovers (five by LCU). OC missed 11 consecutive field goals during the drought. LCU led 28-24 following the run, as OC went a span of 7:06 without a field goal. Lubbock Christian took a 35-29 lead into the half.
 
A 9-2 run early in the second half extended their lead to 51-38 (13:33 remaining). OC cut the deficit to 52-46 with 10:34 remaining, but couldn't muster any offense the rest of the way. The Lady Eagles went the final 9:55 with only two points and did not score any points the final 5:50 of the game (missed their final nine shot attempts). LCU out-scored OC 17-4 over the final 10:34 of the contest.
 
LCU had four players in double figures, with Haley Fowler leading all scorers with 16 points. They also received 13 points each from Haley Burton and Allison Szabo. Schneider had 12 rebounds and 11 points to complete her sixth double-double of the season. She also had four assists, four blocks and three steals. Szabo produced five blocks and three steals to go along with her offensive output. LCU out-scored OC 19-9 from the free-throw line. OC had 15 offensive rebounds leading to 14 more shot attempts than LCU and they had a 12-6 scoring advantage in second chance scoring. The Lady Eagles were led by 10 points each from Sydney Hill and Jasmine Hinton.