NCAA DIVISION II WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP - FIRST ROUND
TEXAS WOMAN'S (21-9, No.8 Seed) vs. No.1 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (29-0, No.1 Seed)
Thursday, March 10, 2016 - 6 PM                               
Rip Griffin Center (Lubbock, Texas)
Radio: KJTV am950/100.7fm                                  
All-Time Series: LCU leads 3-1
Tweet #LCUvsTWU


MADNESS BEGINS
Lubbock Christian University makes their NCAA National Tournament debut in their first season eligible and they also get to serve as host to the South Central Regional, which runs Mar. 10-13 inside Rip Griffin Center. The Lady Chaps are the top seed and they open play facing eighth-seeded Texas Woman's University, who received an at large bid.

LOOKING BACK AT THE LAST GAME
Nicole Hampton, with her second double-double (19 points, 12 rebounds) of the Heartland Conference Tournament, and Haley Fowler (17 points) combined for 35 points and led No.1 Lubbock Christian University to their first Heartland Conference Tournament title and their second postseason tournament title in program history with a 75-52 win over sixth-seeded St. Edward's University Sunder afternoon in the Heartland Conference Tournament championship game at John Q. Hammons Arena (UMAC).
 
LCU led throughout and jumped out to the game's first lead with Kelsey Hoppel connecting on a three-pointer. The Lady Chaps opened the game on a 13-4 run and Hoppel led LCU with 10 points in the opening quarter. She had two three-pointers in the quarter to set the program single season record for three-pointers with 75. LCU led 22-11 at the end of the first quarter.
 
St. Edwards, who was coming off consecutive wins for the first time since mid-January, had an opportunity to come back, as LCU went on a 4:52 stretch without a field goal and was 0-of-9 from the field during the scoring drought. A 4-0 run was all SEU could put together. Fowler, who ended the dry spell with a field goal with 6:07 left in the half, led LCU with eight points in the second quarter and LCU led 41-28 at the half.
 
The Hilltoppers opened the second half with the first four points to cut LCU's lead to 41-32, but the Lady Chaps responded with an 18-1 run for a 59-33 lead. Hampton had eight points during the quarter and LCU outscored the Hilltoppers 21-8 in the quarter for a 62-36 lead.
 
Reserves filled the floor in the fourth quarter and LCU received three-pointers from Allea Harris, Claire Bruffey and Blair Taylor. The three by Taylor gave LCU their largest lead of the game (72-44 with 5:19 remaining).
 
The Lady Chaps outscored SEU 46-10 in the paint and 18-3 in points off turnovers (12-0 in the first half). Hampton claimed Tournament MVP Honors after finishing the game with 19 points and 12 rebounds. She averaged 15.3 points and nine rebounds in the tournament. Fowler's 17 points was a season high and it also placed her on the All-Tournament team with a 13-point average in the tournament. She finished with nine rebounds and a rebound shy of claiming her first double-double of the season. Bruffey finished the game with 12 points and had a tournament average of 13.7 points to also garner a spot on the All-Tournament team. Hoppel also finished with double figures with 10 points.
 
SEU ends their season with a 12-17 record with the loss. Shakera Barnes led SEU with 13 points. They also received 12 points from Lexi Fatheree and 10 points from Lubbock native Abby Hopper.

FOR STARTERS
LCU is 29-0 this season and has yet to face a loss. It is their best start in program history, surpassing a 16-0 start from the 2012-2013 season. They are one of two NCAA Div. II teams entering Thursday undefeated on the season. The other is Limestone.

MARGINS
LCU has the national lead in average margin of victory at 30.4. They have outscored their opponents by at least 20 points in 25 of their 29 games this season.

BACK ON TOP
LCU is ranked as the No.1 team by D2SIDA and by the WBCA/USA Today (Coaches Poll). This season marks LCU's second season eligible in the D2SIDA poll and the first in the Coaches Poll. Jan. 19 marked LCU's debut at No.1 in the D2SIDA Poll and Jan. 26 marked their debut at No.1 in the Coaches Poll. LCU is receiving 11 of 16 first-place votes in the D2SIDA poll and 18 of 24 first-place votes in the Coaches Poll.  The D2SIDA poll is voted on by sports information directors and the WBCA/USA Today is voted on by WBCA coaches.

BLOCK PARTY
The Lady Chaps lead the nation in blocks per game with an average of 6.8 per game. They also lead in total blocks  (198). Kellyn Schneider ranks eighth nationally in blocks per game (2.9) and  11th in total blocks (77). Teammate Tess Bruffey is not far behind, ranking 22nd in blocks per game (2.2) and 19th in total blocks (65). Schneider's 77 blocks this season are ranking as the third highest single-season total in program history and Bruffey's 65 ranks as the fifth best single season mark.

REGIONAL FIELD
The NCAA has a committee, which decides the eight-team field in the South Central Region. The winning team of the region advances to the Elite Eight in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

1. Lubbock Christian
2. Colorado State - Pueblo
3. West Texas A&M
4. Angelo State
5. Colorado School of Mines
6. Colorado - Colorado Springs
7. Black Hills State
8. Texas Woman's University

PLAYING THE PERCENTAGES   
LCU is the only program in NCAA Div. II which ranks in the top-five in field goal shooting (leads at 51.1%) and field goal defense (second nationally holding opponents to a 32.0% shooting mark).

1,000/1,000   
Nicole Hampton had 12 rebounds Sunday and it placed her at 1,000 career rebounds. LCU's career rebound leader is the only Lady Chaps member in program history with 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 points.
           
MILESTONE WATCH
-Nicole Hampton is 14 assists from passing Sierra Lovorn's program leading career assist mark of 633 from 2005-09.

NATIONAL TOURNAMENT AT A GLANCE
LCU is the new kid on the block when it comes to NCAA postseason tournaments, but national tournaments are nothing new to the Lady Chaps. LCU's appearance this season marks LCU's 11th consecutive season in which they have qualified for a postseason national tournament when eligible. LCU made 10 appearances in the NAIA National Tournament and went 15-10 (all under head coach Steve Gomez).

TIME WARP
Since the NCAA adopted "quarters" this season, LCU had never trailed after any quarter of play until the first quarter on 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 91.2% of their season through 28 games, with a total amount of time in the lead at 1062:12 of their 1165 minutes played this season. Their opponents have led a total of 54:42 (4.7%) this season. LCU has led throughout in 12 games this season and have trailed less than 50 seconds in 19 of their games. Their current streak (entering Thursday) is 62 consecutive quarters completed with the lead.

THEY HAVE HEART-LAND
As active roster members, redshirt-seniors Nicole Hampton and Kelsey Hoppel completed a record of 38-0 in Heartland Conference games. They  were also part of 41 consecutive conference wins. Their last loss in a conference game was Feb. 14, 2013 against Rogers State. Toss in they also went 3-0 in Heartland Conference Tournament games.

ALL-CONFERENCE MEMBERS
Head Coach Steve Gomez claimed his third Coach of the Year honors and his first in the Heartland Conference. All five of his starters he has had throughout during the season all claimed Heartland Conference honors:

Nicole Hampton: First Team
Tess Bruffey: First Team
Kelsey Hoppel: Second Team
Kellyn Schneider: Honorable Mention
Haley Fowler: Honorable Mention

Conference Player of the Year: Nicole Hampton
Conference Defensive Player of the Year: Kellyn Schneider

ALL-TOURNAMENT
Nicole Hampton claimed Heartland Conference Tournament MVP honors with a tournament average of 15.3 points and nine rebounds in the tournament. Haley Fowler and Tess Bruffey also claimed All-Tournament honors. Fowler had a season-high 17 points in the tourney championship game and finished with a 13-point average in the tournament. Bruffey had a tournament average of 13.7 points.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT TWU
• The Pioneers are 21-9 overall on the season and finished with a 10-6 conference record in the Lone Star Conference.
• The LSC preseason polls had TWU preseason picked second in the conference. They ended up finishing third.
• Erin Maxwell led the LSC in blocks (2.7) and rebounds (8.0) per game averages and was named the LSC Defensive Player of the Year. She ranks 10th nationally with 78 blocks.
• Kenesha Saygo, a First Team All-LSC selection, leads the team averaging 12.4 points per game.
• TWU led the LSC in field goal percentage - defense (34.6%, ninth nationally), blocks (153, ninth nationally), rebounds per game (43.8, 17th nationally) and three-point shooting defense (24.7%, fourth nationally).  

THE SERIES AGAINST TWU
LCU has won the prior two meetings over TWU and has a 3-1 series advantage. Three of the meetings have come since the 2010-2011 season. The two teams have never met in Lubbock. LCU won the prior meeting (Dec. 3, 2014) in Denton, Texas 58-53.

PRIOR MEETING VS. TWU
Dec. 3, 2014 (Denton, Texas): LCU 58 - TWU 53
Allison Szabo recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and teammate Haley Fowler had a game high 16 points to help lead Lubbock Christian University to a 58-53 win over Texas Woman's University Wednesday night at Kitty Magee Arena to extend LCU's road win streak to 17 games, which leads all NCAA Div. II active road win streaks.
 
LCU used a 9-0 run midway through the first half to turn a 13-12 deficit into a 21-13 lead. TWU, who had a 9-4 lead early on, went on an offensive dry spell. After going on a string of hitting five of six shot attempts, the Pioneers went on a binge of missing 12 consecutive shots while LCU was on their run. They would end up closing the half and the opening shot of the second half going 3-of-21 (14.3 %). Combined with 10 turnovers on TWU (in the half), LCU led 29-21 at the break. TWU was held to a 26.7% (8/30) shooting mark in the first half.
 
The Lady Chaps were able to build the lead to 12 and led by the margin as late as with 8:30 remaining (46-34). Fowler was a big factor to the 12-point advantage, as she had 13 of her 16 points in the second half.  TWU would rally back late. After LCU's defense held TWU to a 2-of-12 shooting span midway through the second half, the Pioneers responded knocking down five of their next six attempts. It led to a 12-5 run, while their defense held LCU to three field goals in the final six minutes. TWU moved within 53-49 and had a free-throw attempt with 2:29 to go, but Kenesha Saygo's free-throw attempt was missed and LCU answered with an old-fashioned three-point play by Szabo to lead 56-49 with 2:11 to play. TWU never got within five points of LCU's lead the rest of the way.
 
TWU was unable to capitalize on second chance opportunities. The Pioneers, out-rebounding LCU 41-36, had 18 offensive rebounds, but only had seven points off second chance opportunities. LCU had a 26-18 scoring advantage in the paint and had nine blocks. Tess Bruffey produced five blocks and Kellyn Schneider had four. LCU was 41.3% (19/46) from the field and held TWU to 28.6% (18/63).