ST. MARY'S THANKSGIVING CLASSIC
No.1 ASHLAND (4-0) vs. No.6/8 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (6-0)
Friday, November 24, 2017 - 3 p.m.
Bill Greehey Arena (San Antonio, Texas)
Radio: Online Only
All-Time Series: No Prior Meetings
NOT A WEAK WEEK
While some celebrate Thanksgiving Week with rest and family time, and a little shopping, the Lady Chaps Thanksgiving Week is full of challenges. No.6/8 Lubbock Christian, entering the three-game week 9-42 all-time against their competition, was able to get through Tuesday's home test against Tarleton State with an 80-60 win, and now they move on to the St. Mary's University Thanksgiving Classic in San Antonio. They open their Alamo City stay facing defending NCAA Division II champion No.1 Ashland Friday before facing Midwestern State Saturday to complete their week. At the completion of this week, LCU will have already completed eight games on the season.
TUESDAY'S TIDINGS
No.6/8 Lubbock Christian University shot 62.7% from the field, with
Tess Bruffey providing 25 points, eight rebounds and seven blocks, to lead the Lady Chaparrals to 6-0 with an 80-60 win over Tarleton State University Tuesday night inside Rip Griffin Center. The win was LCU's second ever win in Lubbock over TSU (2-7) and it was their first at home since Jan. 19, 1989.
TSU was the team with the hot shooting start, as Katie Webster hit the opening two TexAnn shots and took a 5-2 lead, matching LCU's largest deficit of the season. The TexAnns had an opportunity to add to it, as LCU was 1-for-3 from the field to start the game, but they were unable to connect on their next two possessions. The window of opportunity to add to the lead was quickly closed, as LCU made their next six shot attempts and 12 of their next 15 shot attempts. The Lady Chaps, sparked by five points each, in the quarter, by
Caitlyn Cunyus and
Olivia Robertson, went on a 9-3 run in the quarter to break a 7-7 tie and led 16-10. Shooting 8-of-13 (61.5%) in the quarter, LCU led 18-12 at the end of the quarter.
LCU used a 12-0 scoring advantage in the paint in the second quarter to build on the lead. Six of LCU's 11 field goals in the second quarter were in the paint, with Bruffey going 4-of-5 from the field for nine points in the quarter. LCU opened the second quarter on a 12-1 run to lead 30-13 and did not allow a field goal until Mackenzie Hailey connected on a three-pointer with 5:22 left in the quarter. The Lady Chaps led as much as 22 points in the second quarter (41-19) before taking a 41-22 lead into the locker room for the half. LCU's 68.8% (11/16) shooting in the second quarter provided them a 65.5% shooting mark for the half.
Tarleton State capped a 7-0 run with the opening four points of the second half to cut LCU's lead to 41-26. LCU responded with back-to-back successful three-pointers from Bruffey and LCU used a 12-2 run to build the lead to 53-28 ith 5:06 left in the third quarter. Bruffey finished the quarter with eight points and LCU's 54.5% (6/11) shooting in the quarter placed LCU with a 59-35 lead to start the final quarter.
The Lady Chaps went to their bench most of the fourth quarter, but not before
Maddi Chitsey converted a layup to put LCU up 68-42 for their largest lead of the game. Tarleton State out-scored LCU 9-2 in points off turnovers in the quarter, as they forced LCU into seven turnovers in the frame. TSU was unable to cut LCU's lead to less than a 20-point margin over the final 8:19 of the game.
Bruffey was 9-of-15 (60%) from the field for her 25 points, including a mark of 6-of-8 inside the arc to help fuel a 30-12 advantage in scoring in the paint. LCU was 27-of-36 (75%) as a team inside the perimeter. TSU was led by 19 points from Hailey and 11 points from Webster. TSU was held to shoot 35.7% from the field (20/56) with a mark of 34.3% (12/35) inside the arc.
LCU improved to 4-20 all-time in the series and they have won consecutive games for the first time ever in the all-time series. The Lady Chaps have won three of the last five all-time meetings over TSU, who dropped to 3-2 overall on the season with the loss.
HONORED
Forward
Tess Bruffey averaged a double-double as she led the Lady Chaps to another undefeated week and earned Heartland Women's Basketball Player of the Week honors. The award was given for games played from Nov. 13 - Nov. 19. Bruffey helped LCU to a 3-0 week, which included a road win at Texas A&M-Commerce and home wins over Western N.M. and Texas-Permian Basin, by averaging 13.7 points, 10.7 rebounds and 5.7 blocks per game. At A&M-Commerce, she posted 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting and contributed 14 rebounds and five blocks. She capped the week Saturday nearly completing a triple-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 8 blocks. The NCAA Div.II's active career blocks leader was 6-of-11 (54.5%) from three-point range and contributed eight assists on the week. The honor is Bruffey's first conference weekly honor this season and the seventh of her career.
NATIONALLY KNOWN
New national rankings came out Tuesday afternoon, and the season's first in-season rankings had LCU No.6 in the D2SIDA poll and No.8 in the WBCA poll. They are the best rankings since the D2SIDA had them No.4 in last season's preseason poll and WBCA had them at No.1 at the conclusion of the 15-16 season. In this season's preseason rankings, D2SIDA had LCU ranked No.23 in their Women's Basketball Preseason Media National Poll. 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.
MAKING IT THROUGH
LCU is one of 52 teams that are without a loss on the early season and is the only Heartland Conference team without a blemish. LCU is sitting 6-0 for the second time since the 2012-13 season. They went 16-0 to open the 2012-13 season and 35-0 to open and complete their 2015-16 championship season. LCU joins Alaska Anchorage, Black Hills State and Carson-Newman as the only 6-0 teams nationally.
DOWNTOWN
The Lady Chaps lead the Heartland Conference and ranking sixth nationally with 52 three-pointers made on the season. They have hit their 52 treys on a 41.9% rate, which ranks 12th nationally. LCU has received three-point field goals from 11 different individuals, led by 13 from
Tess Bruffey and
Caitlyn Cunyus. LCU is averaging 8.7 per game (31st nationally), which is above a 7.3 pace last season and a 7.5 rate in 2015-16. LCU has produced at least 10 three-pointers in six of their four games this season, which is a task they completed once in the opening 12 games of last season.
BLOCKING IT OUT
Tess Bruffey, who ranked second nationally last season in blocks per game (3.9), leads the nation with 29 blocks on the season. Her 29 blocks come at a rate of 4.8 per game (second nationally). The Lady Chaps, as a team, rank tied for first nationally with 36 blocks. Bruffey has three double-doubles on the season as well ranks tied for 14th nationally in the category. In her career, Bruffey has a program and conference record 301 blocks, marking her as the NCAA Div. II's active career leader (third among all levels). She also ranks on the NCAA Div. II's active career leader charts in points (1,321, ninth) and double-doubles (17, 17th).
TIME IS ON THEIR SIDE
LCU opened their 2015-16 championship season completing their first 36 quarters without trailing after a quarter. Through six games this season, LCU has gone 24 quarters without trailing at the conclusion of the quarter. Through the first six games of the 15-16 season, LCU led for 89.2% of the games (218:38 of 245 minutes) and trailed for 5% of the games. Through six games this season, LCU has led for 91.6% (219:45 of 240 minutes) of their games and have trailed in 4.6% (11:05) of their contests.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ASHLAND
• Ashland, Ohio based Ashland University is coming off a 37-0 season and a NCAA Division II National Championship season last year. They have won 41 consecutive games after a 4-0 start this season, marking the fourth longest win streak all-time in NCAA Division II.
• The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Conference preseason picked the Eagles to win the conference's South Division. LCU is 0-1 all-time against GLIAC squads, falling to No.19 Grand Valley State 52-45 (Nov.25, 2016) in the Lady Chaps opening game of last season's Thanksgiving classic they played in, the Puerto Rico Clasico in San Juan, P.R.
• Ashland leads the nation in scoring offense (97.3 points per game), turnovers forced per game (29.3) and assists per game (24.3).
• Preseason GLIAC Player of the Year Laina Snyder leads the Eagles and ranks eighth nationally with an average of 23.3 points per game. She ranks 11th in field goals made with 39.
• Nationally, Ashland is known for producing Robin Meade from CNN, but within the LCU community they are known for producing
Nick Cordes, who serves as LCU's cross country and track & field head coach. Cordes was a 2016 Ashland Hall of Fame Inductee for his student-athlete services (three-time cross country All-American and four-time track & field All-American) and serving as a head coach of the cross country program for five seasons (2005-2009).
THE SERIES AGAINST ASHLAND
The two teams will be meeting for the first time. It is LCU's first game against a No.1 nationally ranked teams since Dec.3, 2016, as they fell 60-50 at Emporia State. This is the second time LCU has faced a No.1 team since moving to NCAA Div. II. Prior to the meeting with Emporia last season, LCU had not faced a No.1 team since Mar. 19, 2012 (LCU fell 85-56 in a Fab Four contest against NAIA No.1 Oklahoma City at the NAIA National Tournament in Frankfort, Ky.).
