No. 24 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (3-2) vs. No.19 GRAND VALLEY STATE (2-1)
Friday, November 25, 2016 - 10 a.m. (Central)
Roberto Clemente Coliseum (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
Radio: KJTV am950/100.7fm
All-Time Series: No Prior Meetings
THE ISLAND OF ENCHANTMENT
Lubbock Christian University travels 2,500 miles to Puerto Rico, where they will be one of 17 programs occupying the field, which includes some Division I programs, at the 2016 Puerto Rico Clasico. LCU will play two games inside Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico, facing No. 19 Grand Valley State (Friday at 10 a.m. Central) and Lenoir-Rhyne (Saturday at 7:30 a.m. Central). The games close out a busy three-game week, which is part of a five-games-in-nine-days slate of the schedule.
LOOKING BACK AT THEIR LAST CONTEST
Bailey Haist produced 17 points in the first half off five three-pointers, and
Tess Bruffey finished with a game-high 20 points, as No.11 Lubbock Christian University used a 25-6 first half run to cruise past NAIA No.22 Wayland Baptist 72-50 Monday night inside Rip Griffin Center.
LCU never trailed in the contest and hit their first three field goals to jumpstart the offense with a 6-0 lead. WBU cut the deficit to 11-7 with a Shawna Monreal three-pointer with 3:20 remaining in the first quarter, but the Flying Queens wouldn't see another field goal for the next 11:17. LCU would go on a 25-6 run, building their lead to 36-13. All six points for WBU during the run were from the free-throw line.
At the half, LCU led 38-19, with Haist nearly outscoring the entire Flying Queens in the half with her 6-of-9 shooting from the field (5-of-6 from three-point range). She had 17 points in the opening half, with all coming from the field. Meanwhile, WBU was shooting 14.3% from the field in the half (4/28), with more points from the free-throw line (10) than the field (9). LCU had a 25-11 rebounding advantage in the half, with Bruffey bringing down seven of them.
Shayla Monreal produced eight points in the opening 4:15 of the second half and helped WBU lead a 10-2 run, cutting LCU's lead to 40-29. It would be the closest the Flying Queens would get. LCU used three-pointers from Bruffey and
Allison Szabo to go on a 10-0 run to build their lead to 55-32 with 1:12 remaining in the third quarter.
Hannah Harbin knocked down a pair of free throws with 2:59 remaining in the game to place LCU's lead to 72-47, marking the game's largest lead.
Bruffey had 12 of her 20 points in the second half. She finished with nine rebounds, missing out on a third straight double-double. Haist finished with 19 points and her five three-pointers matched a career high for a fourth time. Her first was her 100th of her LCU career. LCU also received 13 points from Harbin and 10 rebounds from
Allison Szabo. LCU was 49% from the field (25/51) and 52.4% (11/21) from three-point range (opened the game 7-of-8 from long range). They held WBU to 20.6% shooting (13/63). The Flying Queens, led by 10-point performances by Shayla Montreal and Jade Jones, went 19-of-22 (86.4%) from the free-throw line. LCU out-rebounded WBU 50-30 in the game.
BLOCK PARTY RETURNS
LCU led the nation in blocks last season and one of the big contributors in LCU's block success was
Kellyn Schneider, who rewrote the Heartland Conference record books in blocks. Schneider, who had over 200 blocks in her two-year LCU career has graduated (now an assistant on the LCU staff) is no longer on the roster, but LCU is still one of the top defensive teams in the nation in blocks. The Lady Chaps are third in the nation in blocks (27), with
Allison Szabo (12) ranking 10th nationally and
Tess Bruffey (10) ranking 23rd nationally. Each are top two leaders in the conference. Bruffey, who has her 10 blocks despite missing the first two games of the season, has 174 in her LCU career.
MORE ON BRUFFEY
Monday,
Tess Bruffey was named Heartland Conference Player of the Week. Bruffey made her season debut Friday night, after missing the opening week of action, and produced back-to-back double-doubles in LCU's 2-0 week. She produced 19 points and 11 rebounds against Colorado School of Mines and followed with 14 boards and 10 points against Texas Permian Basin. Her weekly totals include seven blocks and five assists with a per-game average of 14.5 points and 12.5 rebounds. Her two double-doubles places her with five in her career (only three prior to her two games this season). The honor for Bruffey is her second career conference weekly honor. Ironically, her prior award came during the second week of play last season.
BANK HAIST
Bailey Haist hit her 100th three-pointer of her LCU career Monday, which was part of a 5-of-7 shooting performance from long range against Wayland Baptist (all five made were in the first half). She leads the Heartland Conference with a 44.8% shooting mark from downtown. In her career, she has hit "threes" at a 44.6% shooting mark, which is a mark on pace to finish second in LCU's career three-point shooting percentage mark.
MILESTONES
Tess Bruffey has 174 career blocks. She is one block away from passing Suzanne Copeland (1988-1992) and moving into sole possession of second on LCU's career block list. The career leader is
Kellyn Schneider, who had 204 career blocks.
MAKING THEIR DEBUT
Monday, three Lady Chaps made their LCU debut.
Kambrey Blakey,
Caitlyn Cunyus and
Abby Morris each checked in against Wayland Baptist and saw their first college action. With their appearances, every player on the LCU roster has seen action this season.
MORE THAN A GAME
LCU is making their easternmost trip in program history by heading to Puerto Rico. Last season, LCU went to Winter Park, Fla. and participated in Rollins' Thanksgiving tournament, which had previously marked LCU's easternmost appearance. Head Coach
Steve Gomez is chasing his roots, with LCU playing games in Puerto Rico. Gomez and several of his family members made the trip to not only support the team, but to also explore their family heritage. Steve's dad, Roger, who is on the trip, is a native of Canóvanas, Puerto Rico.
TRENDING
LCU's field goal shooting an field goal defense has progressively improved each game this season. The Lady Chaps field goal shooting opened the season at 32.7% and Monday shot 49.0%. Their opponent in the season opener (Metro State) shot 42.9% and Monday's opponent (Wayland Baptist) shot 20.6% from the field. LCU's defense ranks fifth nationally, allowing a shooting percentage of 29.3% on the season.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT GVSU
• The Lakers are coming off a 26-10 record last season and they were the Midwest Regional Champions, which led them to the Elite Eight in Sioux Falls, S.D. They lost in the Elite Eight Tournament to Alaska Anchorage.
• The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic conference (GLIAC) preseason picked GVSU to win the conference. They went 15-7 in conference play last season. They return all five starters from last season.
• GVSU is 2-1 on the season. They are coming off an 86-46 win on Nov. 18 over Rochester.
• The Allendale, Michigan based program ranks fifth in the nation in free-throw shooting with a mark of 88.0%. Taylor Parmley is 13-of-15 (86.7%) from the line this season.
• The Lakers made a program single-season record 325 three-pointers last season at a rate of 9.0 per game. This season, they have hit at a rate of 7.0 per game (21 through three games), but at a mark of 26.3%. They average a whopping 26.7 three-point attempts per game this season. Lindsay Baker averages 7.3 attempts per game and seven different Lakers average at least 2.5 attempts per game.
THE SERIES AGAINST GVSU
LCU and GVSU have never faced each other. The meeting will mark the first match-up between the two teams.
