SOUTHWEST (N.M.) (1-4) at No. 7/8 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (7-1)
Thursday, November 29, 2017 - 6 p.m.
Rip Griffin Center (Lubbock, Texas)
Radio: Online Only
All-Time Series: LCU leads 4-0
HERE IT COMES
No. 7/8 Lubbock Christian University returns home to open a four-game homestand, which opens Thursday with LCU hosting University of the Southwest (N.M.) before hosting Arkansas – Fort Smith for their Heartland Conference opener Saturday at 3 p.m. Saturday conference contest for woman's basketball are typically at 1 p.m. prior to the men's contest, but due to UAFS's scheduling with flights for their men's program, the teams have switched and the men's contest will be played at 1 p.m. prior to the women's tip-off.
SATURDAY SUMMARY
Maddi Chitsey, coming off a career high 21-point performance Friday against No.1 Ashland, led No.6/8 Lubbock Christian University with 17 points and teammate
Tess Bruffey produced a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds to help the Lady Chaparrals improve to 7-1 with a 65-57 win over Midwestern State University Saturday night at the St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic inside Bill Greehey Arena.
The final score was not indicative to the statistics of the game, as LCU had a 51% (25/49) shooting percentage from the field and held MSU to 18% (21/75) shooting from the floor. LCU never trailed in the contest and held a lead of at least 14 points for 14 minutes. Credit the Mustangs, who out-rebounded LCU 48-37 with 26 offensive rebounds and finished the game on a 16-4 run, holding the Lady Chaps without a field goal over the final 6:20 of the game.
The Lady Chaps opened the game with a balanced effort. On the defensive end, LCU held MSU to three field goals on their opening 28 shot attempts (10.7%). Of MSU's first five field goals (spanning nearly the opening 18 minutes of play), only one was a traditional two-point field goal, as MSU had a pair of three-pointers and a pair of "old-fashioned" three-point plays. On LCU's offensive end,
Tess Bruffey was off to a slow start (one field goal on her first seven attempts), but her teammates were a combined 8-of-14 (57.1%) from the field. The Lady Chaps used a pair of 6-0 runs and a 10-0 run, sparked by a
Maddi Chitsey three-pointer, to lead 24-10 with 3:31 remaining in the second quarter. Surged by a 58.3% (7/12) shooting mark from the field in the second quarter, LCU took a 32-20 lead at the half.
Hannah Reynolds produced a layup 44-seconds into the fourth quarter to cut LCU's lead to 32-24, but LCU responded with an 11-2 run capped by five straight points from
Caitlyn Cunyus. Leading 55-39 heading into the fourth quarter, LCU built their lead to its largest (61-41) before the closing 16-4 Mustangs run. LCU's final 6:20 was not filled with missed shots (they were 4-of-8 from the field in the quarter), but plagued with eight turnovers in the stretch.
Chitsey, coming off her first game in which she led LCU in scoring in her career, led LCU with 17 points and was 7-of-10 from the field. Three Lady Chaps joined her in double figures, with Cunyus (12 points) and
Olivia Robertson (11 points) joining Bruffey and Chitsey. Bruffey's double-double was her fourth of the season and the 18
th of her career.
Midwestern State was led by Liz Cathcart, whose 10 points placed her as the only Mustang in double figures. The Mustangs had an 18-7 scoring advantage in second chance scoring and 17-3 scoring advantage in points off turnovers.
The win over MSU was LCU's seventh all-time of the 29 meetings in the series dating back to 1982. LCU has defeated MSU in consecutive all-time meetings for second time ever and the first since they defeated MSU in 1989 and 1990.
OPEN HEART
Heartland Conference play opens Thursday for most teams, but with Dallas Baptist not having a women's basketball program (LCU's men are at DBU Thursday), LCU is not scheduled for a conference contest (on Thursday). Saturday marks LCU's fifth Heartland Conference opener, after spending the prior 19 seasons in the Sooner Athletic Conference. The Lady Chaps went 11-8 all-time in SAC openers and are 3-1 in HC openers, with last season's 55-47 loss at St. Mary's (Dec. 31, 2016) marking their only loss in a Heartland Conference opener. They are 12-2 all-time in conference openers under head coach
Steve Gomez. They have won 11 of their prior 12 consecutive conference openers.
NATIONALLY KNOWN
New national rankings came out Tuesday afternoon, and the Lady Chaparrals dropped one spot to the No.7 spot in the D2SIDA Top-25 Poll for NCAA Division II women's basketball, while remaining with the No.8 spot in the WBCA's Top-25 Poll. They are the top team in the polls that have suffered a loss. Last weeks poll was the first in-season poll, and their No.6 assigned ranking by D2SIDA has severed as their highest ranking this season.
PERIMETER PLAY
On the offensive side, LCU ranks 12
th nationally with 59 three-pointers made on the season.
Tess Bruffey and
Caitlyn Cunyus each rank tied for third in the Heartland Conference co-leading the team with 15 three-pointers. Their three-point shooting percentage ranks 13
th nationally at 40.1%. LCU has produced at least 10 three-pointers in four of their eight games this season, which is a task they completed once in the opening 12 games of last season. On the defensive side, LCU leads the Heartland Conference holding opponents to a 27.2% shooting percentage from long range.
DOWNTOWN
LCU leads the Heartland Conference and ranks eighth nationally in field goal percentage, shooting 48.6% from the field. They also rank 11
th nationally in field goal defense, holding the opposition to 31.1% shooting on the season. Their allowance of 52.3 points per game ranks 11
th in the nation.
BLOCKING IT OUT
Tess Bruffey, who ranked second nationally last season in blocks per game (3.9), leads the nation with 33 blocks on the season. Her 33 blocks come at a rate of 4.1 per game (second nationally). The Lady Chaps, as a team, rank third nationally with 43 blocks. Bruffey has four double-doubles on the season as well ranks tied for 10th nationally in the category. In her career, Bruffey has a program and conference record 305 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 (1,346, 11th) and double-doubles (18, 16th).
TIME IS ON THEIR SIDE
LCU opened their 2015-16 championship season completing their first 36 quarters without trailing after a quarter. This season, LCU went 24 quarters without trailing at the conclusion of the quarter. Through six games this season, LCU has led for 80.6% (258:01 of 320 minutes) of their games and have trailed in 15.1% (48:12) of their contests. In comparison, in 2015-16, LCU led 88% of their season through 10 games, with a total amount of time in the lead at 355:53 of their 405 minutes of play. Their opponents led a total of 25:12 (6%) of the season through 10 games.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT USW
• University of the Southwest is coming off a 1-28 record from the 2016-17 season, which witnessed an 18-game losing streak to close the season.
• USW is a member of the NAIA's Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC), which has the Mustangs preseason ranked to finish tied for ninth this season.
• The Mustangs enter Thursday night's game coming off an 86-51 loss to Northern New Mexico College Wednesday night in Hobbs, N.M. It was the second meeting of the season against NNMC for the Mustangs, who had defeated them earlier in Espanola, N.M. 76-75 with a win at the final horn for their lone win thus far in the season. They are 1-4 on the season, but they are counting Thursday's game as an exhibition game (regular season game for LCU).
• Despite being held to less than 10 points in her three prior games, the Mustangs are led in scoring by Aaliyah Wheatfall, who averages 11.4 points a contest. She opened the season 15-of-21 from the field with 37 points combined in two games.
• USW entered the week ranking 24
th in the NAIA in defensive rebounds per game with an average of 28.8 per contest.
THE SERIES AGAINST USW
LCU leads the all-time series 4-0, which started in 2008. The two programs have not met since 2010 in Lubbock, where LCU is 3-0 against the Mustangs.
PRIOR MEETING VS. USW
Nov. 16, 2010 (Lubbock, Texas): LCU 96 - USW 54
Six Lubbock Christian University Lady Chaparrals finished in double figures in points, led by 19 by freshman Emily Atkins, and the No.20 Lady Chaps cruised past University of the Southwest (N.M.) 96-54 inside Rip Griffin Center.
The Lady Chaps opened the game on a 17-3 run over the first seven minutes to control the contest early. USW used a jumper from Melissa Hillenbrand to help start an 8-2 run to help the Lady Mustangs get back into the game trailing 19-11. The Lady 'Stangs cut the LCU lead down to 29-22 with 3:51 to go, but LCU responded by scoring the next 13 points and closed the half on a 15-2 run. LCU, leading 44-24 at the half, out-scored USW 14-2 in the paint in the half and 13-5 in points off turnovers.
Lubbock Christian did not allow USW an opportunity to get back into the game in the second half. The Lady Chaps opened the second half with a 13-5 run over the opening four minutes to build their lead to 57-29. Severyn Smith's jumper with 15:01 left provided LCU a 30-point lead (59-29) and they never trailed by less than that the rest of the way.??
Burton scored 11 of her 19 points in the first half and was 7-of-13 from the field. Courtney Wilson (15 points and 8 rebounds), Smith (13 points), Brittany Hampton (12 points), Haley Burton (11 points) and Whitney Wehmeyer (11 points) all had 10-plus point performances in the victory. The Lady Chaps were 51.4% (37/72) from the field and 53.7% (22/41) in the second half. USW was held to shoot just 29.1% (16/55) from the field in the game.
