No.23 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN vs.No.5 COLORADO STATE - PUEBLO
Friday, November 10 - 1:00 PM
Texas A&M-Commerce Field House (Commerce, Texas)
Radio: KJTV 100.7 FM "The Score"
All-Time Series: CSU-P Leads 4-3
CAMPAIGN BEGINS
The No.23 Lubbock Christian University Lady Chaparrals open up the 2017-18 season Friday at the 1525 Tournament hosted by Texas A&M Commerce at the TAMUC Field House in Commerce, Texas with a 1 p.m. tip-off against No.5 Colorado State University - Pueblo. It is a busy opening four days for the Lady Chaps, who will continue with facing Metropolitan State University of Denver (Metro State) Saturday and Texas A&M University Commerce Monday.
LOOKING BACK AT LAST SEASON
The Lady Chaps went 19-11 last season and came a win shy of a return appearance at the NCAA Div. II South Central Region Tournament, as they fell to St. Edward's in the Heartland Conference Tournament. LCU had a tough start to the season, in their title defense of the 2016-17 NCAA Division II National Championship title, going 5-7 to open the season, but rebounded to go 14-4 the rest of the way. They were able to do so behind the lead of
Tess Bruffey, who led the nation in blocks per game (3.9) and averaged 16.3 points and 8.7 rebounds a game en route to All-America honors.
WHO RETURNS
LCU returns three starting members from last season's finale, led by Bruffey, who started in 27 of 30 games in the paint. LCU had three players that played in all 30 games last season, with
Olivia Robertson (6.6 points per game) and
Delaney Gaddis (3.3 points per game) marking two of the three individuals that return this season. All returning off the 2015-16 championship roster and with six starts last season is Bobby Chitsey, who averaged 8.1 points per game.
NEW FACES
There are seven new additions, who will don a Lady Chaps jersey for a first time Friday. The seven newbies consist of six freshmen and a sophomore transfer, marking
Steve Gomez's largest incoming class and biggest incoming class since the 2001-02 season (nine new additions). This is the largest freshman crop since Gomez recruited six freshmen in 2004-05 in his second season coaching the Lady Chaps. The lone transfer is Kailin Davis, who is a sophomore joining the Lady Chaps from NCAA Division I Air Force Academy. The six freshmen are Ashton Duncan, Emma Middleton, Juliana Robertson, Allie Schulte, Taylor Stevenson and Madelyn Turner.
NATIONALLY KNOWN
D2SIDA has LCU ranked No.23 in their Women's Basketball Preseason Media National Poll. LCU has found their way into the D2SIDA preseason poll four consecutive seasons, marking every season they have been eligible to appear (due to the transfer from NAIA to NCAA Div. II), ranking No. 4 (2016-17), No.15 (2015-16) and receiving votes in 2014-15. LCU was the third highest ranked team in the South Central Region, behind No.5 Colorado State – Pueblo and No.13 West Texas A&M. The D2SIDA polls are voted on by a committee of sports information directors at Division II member institutions nationwide.
The Women's Basketball Coaches Association released their 2017-18 Women's Basketball NCAA Div. II Preseason Top 25 Coaches' Poll and Lubbock Christian University opened the season receiving votes. The WBCA NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Preseason Poll is another poll LCU has consistently debut in each season since being eligible. Last season, LCU opened the season ranked No.11, which was their highest WBCA preseason poll ranking. In 2015, they debuted at No.18 before making their way to No.1 en route their NCAA Division II national title.
FOR OPENERS
LCU is probably more known for how they finish the season, than how they begin the season. The Lady Chaps have dropped six of the last 10 season openers. LCU fell 67-51 in last season's opener in Denver, Colo. to Metro State. Their last season opening win was the 2015-16 opener, which resulted in a 68-43 win at CSU-Pueblo. In season openers, LCU is 24-14 all-time and 8-6 under head coach
Steve Gomez. Friday marks LCU's fourth consecutive season opener on the road (prior three were all in Colorado). LCU has lost five of their last six openers, which have been away from home. This is LCU's second season opener against CSU-P.
SCIENCE!
The Lubbock Christian University women's basketball team provided the local fans inside Rip Griffin Center a sneak peak of their 2017-18 season makeup last Thursday evening, receiving a double-double (18 points and 11 rebounds) from
Tess Bruffey to garner a 75-40 exhibition win over Science & Arts of Oklahoma.
Chickasha, Okla. based USAO and LCU were one-time NAIA foes in the Sooner Athletic Conference. The Lady Chaps and Drovers have not seen each other since LCU's departure into NCAA Division II. The Drovers hung with the preseason Heartland Conference favorites, trailing 17-12 after the first quarter, but the Lady Chaps surged the rest of the way outscoring USAO 58-28 over the final three quarters.
LCU never trailed in the contest and received 18 points from Bruffey, with 12 points coming in the first half. They also received 17 points from
Caitlyn Cunyus, who was 5-of-9 from long range in the contest. Bruffey and Cunyus combined for 25 of LCU's 52 shots. LCU was 51.9% (27/52) from the field, including 11-of-17 (64.7%) in the third quarter. The hot hand in the third quarter led to a 28-point scoring outburst for the Lady Chaps.
Delaney Gaddis had seven points in the quarter and LCU outscored USAO 16-2 in the paint during the quarter. LCU was 11-of-13 from the free-throw line, including a 6-of-6 performance from
Bobbi Chitsey, who finished with 10 points (Chitsey was also 2-for-2 from the field).
The Lady Chaps produced eight blocks in the game, with Bruffey leading the way with five. Bruffey completed the game with five assists as well to lead the team. LCU assisted on 20 of 27 field goals, with assists coming from eight different individuals. The Drovers were unable to get any players in double figures. Dierra Ely led USAO with eight points. USAO was outscored 15-4 in the fourth quarter, limited to two field goals.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT CSU-P
• CSU-P is coming off a 28-4 season in which they hosted the South Central Region Tournament and fell to West Texas A&M in the semifinals. They went 20-2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and 8-2 in non-conference play.
• The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference preseason picked the ThunderWolves to win the conference. They received 12 of the 15 first place votes.
• They return two Preseason All-RMAC selections in Preseason Player of the Year Molly Rohrer and Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Katie Cunningham. Rohrer was on the preseason list last season as well.
• Two season's ago when the two teams met to open the season in Pueblo, Colo., it was CSU-P's first game with Jim Turgeon at the helm of the ThunderWolves. Turgeon left for NCAA Div. I Denver in the offseason and taking over is Curtis Loyd, who comes from Louisiana State University Shreveport of the NAIA where he led the Pilots to a 22-10 record and a program-record 15 conference wins. Like Turgeon, Loyd's first game coaching The Pack will be against LCU.
• The ThunderWolves return all five of their starters from last season, including Tuileisu Anderson, who enters the season 27 points shy of moving into the top-10 in CSU-P career scoring (has 1,115 career points).
THE SERIES AGAINST CSU-P
CSU-P, formerly known as Southern Colorado, leads LCU 4-3 in the all-time series. The home team won the first five prior meetings, with LCU bucking that trend with a 2015-16 season-opening win in Pueblo. Last season's meeting (65-61 win by CSU-P in Denver, Colo.) was the first neutral site meeting. The first two all-time meetings came down to the final buzzer. On Dec. 9, 1989 in Lubbock, Burgandy Bass hit the game winning shot at the horn for a 58-56 LCU win. Nearly a year later on Dec. 8, 1989 in Pueblo, LCU rallied back from a 63-55 deficit with 24 points from Sherry Blackwell, but a three-pointer at the buzzer didn't fall and LCU fell 73-72. The last four meetings have been in Colorado (three in Pueblo) and under
Steve Gomez's watch. The prior season-opening meeting was Nov.13, 2015, which LCU won 68-43.
PREVIOUS RECAP VS. CSU-P
Nov. 12, 2017 (Denver, Colo.) - CSU-P:65 - LCU:61
Sophomores
Olivia Robertson (20 points) and
Bobbi Chitsey (17 points) each had career high performances, but it was not enough for No.4/11 Lubbock Christian University, as Colorado State – Pueblo overcame an eight-point fourth quarter deficit hitting five three-pointers in the quarter to rally for a 65-61 win in a neutral site contest part of the Holiday Inn Cherry Creek Classic hosted by Metropolitan State University of Denver.
Trailing 48-40 through three quarters, CSU-Pueblo, who had been 4-of-17 (23.5%) from three-point range, opened the fourth quarter with a three-point field goal by Jaszymn Johnson. Taylor Long hit the first of two three-pointers in the quarter with 7:38 to go to cut the Thunderwolves deficit to 50-48 with 7:38 remaining, but the Lady Chaps responded, and a field goal by Robertson put LCU up 54-48 with 5:32 left. Over the ensuing 91 seconds, the game changed as Long, Katie Cunningham (her only three-pointer of the game) and Johnson combined to go 3-for-3 from long distance and the game was tied 57-57 with 3:06 left. CSU-P scored their final eight points from the free-throw line, as they were a perfect 8-for-8 from the line in the quarter. LCU was whistled for nine fouls in the fourth quarter, including a fifth foul called on Chitsey with 6:41 left, taking away a hot hand in the game from LCU. In the final 3:06, LCU was 2-of-7 from the field. They missed four consecutive field goal attempts as the score was tied 57-57 and as they trailed 57-59. The T-wolves made six field goals in the quarter and five were three-pointers.
CSU-P only led a span of 6:27 in the game. LCU had the lead for nearly three quarters of the game (29 minutes). LCU opened the game on a 7-0 run and was not phased after CSU-P answered with a 5-0 run, as the Lady Chaps used a three-pointer from
Bailey Haist to regain the lead to a seven-point margin (16-9) to end the first quarter.
Allison Szabo connected on a three-pointer with 6:53 left in the first half to build the lead to 21-11 before CSU-P went on an 8-0 run. They closed the half on a 7-2 run and Molly Rohrer layup with 11 seconds left in the half gave the Thunderwolves their first lead (29-28), which took the game into the halftime.
A pair of Thunderwolves three-pointers in the opening three minutes of the third quarter built their lead to 37-32, and LCU answered with some valuable minutes from Chitsey. LCU went on a 16-0 run over the next five minutes, with Chitsey hitting a pair of three-points and scoring eight of the 16 points. LCU led 48-37 at the run's conclusion and 37 seconds remained in the third quarter.
Robertson, whose prior career high was eight points, had a game-high 20 points on an 8-for-14 shooting performance. Chitsey scored her 17 points in just 13 minutes of play. She was 6-of-9 from the field. Haist finished with 11 points for LCU. CSU-P had four players in double figures, with Johnson leading the team with 15 points. Rohrer (14 points), Long (10 points) and Tuileisu (10 points) joined Johnson.
CSU-P outrebounded LCU 45-24 and produced 21 offensive rebounds. The 21 offensive rebounds was the most allowed since UA-Fort Smith had 26 on Feb. 12, 2015. The Thunderwolves did not necessarily take advantage of the offensive boards, it just hampered LCU's possessions/possession time. The Thunderwolves did not have a second chance scoring point until bringing down their 12th offensive rebound. CSU-P had 21 offensive rebounds compared to LCU's eight, yet LCU out-scored CSU-P 13-7 in second chance scoring.
The T-wolves closed the game 9-of-25 (36%) from long distance. They went 5-of-8 in the fourth quarter in the category. They were 88.9% from the line (16/18). LCU had an 18-9 advantage in forced turnovers, but only had a 15-13 scoring advantage in points off turnovers.
