No.3/10 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (6-1, 0-0)
vs. No.1 CENTRAL MISSOURI (4-1, 0-0)
Saturday, November 24 - 1 PM                                             
Bill Greehey Arena (San Antonio, Texas)
Radio: Online Only
All-Time Series: UCM leads 1-0
 
THANKSGIVING IN SAN ANTONIO
For a second consecutive season, Lubbock Christian University is taking part in the St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic in San Antonio, and for a second consecutive season the Lady Chaparrals are facing the No.1 nationally ranked team and defending national champions. Last season, it was Ashland, and Saturday, LCU faces No.1 Central Missouri. The contest wraps up a busy three-game week for the Lady Chaps, who will not play again until next Saturday at home.
 
BLACK FRIDAY BARGAINS
Allie Schulte (16 points) was 4-of-5 from three-point range and combined for 31 points with Kailin Davis (15 points), as LCU opened the St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic with a 72-47 win over Kutztown University Friday afternoon inside Bill Greehey Arena.
 
LCU had a 15-5 rebounding advantage in the first half and finished the game with a 35-19 rebounding lead. LCU had 12 offensive boards (compared to 14 KU defensive boards), leading to a 17-8 scoring advantage in second-chance scoring.
 
Teams combined for 40 turnovers, with KU committing 22 and leading to LCU outscoring the Golden Bears 22-7 in points off turnovers. LCU had seven steals, with Schulte nabbing three. Of the 40 turnovers, 15 were due to traveling infractions (10 by KU).
 
Davis and Schulte each went 6-of-8 (75%) from the field and they combined to go 6-of-8 from three-point range for the Lady Chaps, who went 7-of-12 (58.3%) from downtown. Along with their offensive support, the Lady Chaps also received a career-high 10 points from Emma Middleton, who also had three rebounds and three blocks in 15 minutes of action. LCU improved to 6-1 with the win.
 
The Kutztown, Pa. based Golden Bears (1-4) received 16 points from Karen Lapkiewicz and 13 points from Rylee Derr. KU entered the game ranking 26^th nationally in three-point field goals per game, but was 3-of-14 (21.4%) from three-point range. Derr entered the game ranking 10^th in three-pointers per game and was 1-of-4 in the game. The meeting was the first ever meeting between the two squads and the game for LCU against a Pennsylvania based program.
 
NEUTRAL SITES
Friday's contest against Kutztown was LCU's first game of the season on a neutral floor. The Lady Chaps went 6-2 in neutral site games last season.
 
NO FOUL PLAY
The Lady Chaps rank third in the nation in fouls per game, with an average of 14.0 fouls per game. Fouls have led LCU to averaging 12.4 points a game from the free-throw line (opponents are averaging 10.3 points per game from the line).
 
SISTER CHRISTIAN
On Nov.10, CSU-Pueblo marked the first time in LCU program history in which a pair of sisters tallied double figures, as LCU received double-digit point production from Olivia Robertson, Juliana Robertson, Bobbi Chitsey and Maddi Chitsey. LCU has three sisters on the squad, but they have not had a game yet in which all three sisters touched the floor.  Caitlin Cunyus did make her season debut Wednesday at Tarleton State. Friday marked the first game in which both Cunyus sisters played, but Bobbi Chitsey did not play.
 
LENDING A HELPING HAND
LCU has four players with at least an average of 2.0 assists per game.  Allie Schulte leads the team with 28 assists (4.0 per game), with Olivia Robertson (15, 2.1), Bobbi Chitsey (12, 2.0) and Caitlyn Cunyus (2.5) also providing into the ball distribution. LCU averages 15.6 assists (leads the Heartland Conference) on 24.9 field goals per game.  LCU has 109 assists, ranking 10th nationally in the category. Friday against Kutztown, LCU had at least one assist from 10 different players.
 
BOARD GAMES
The Lady Chaps rank eighth in the Heartland Conference in rebounds per game (32), but lead the Heartland Conference in rebounding margin with a mark of 5.6. Olivia Robertson leads LCU with 40 rebounds, which ranks fifth in the conference.
 
DOWNTOWN
LCU bounced back from three-three-pointers Thursday with seven (on 12 attempts) Friday. The Lady Chaps ranks sixth nationally with 58 three-pointers on the season and is ninth with a shooting mark of 45.0% from long range.
 
RANKING THINGS
D2SIDA and WBCA each released their first in-season national rankings of the season, and LCU remained No.3 in D2SIDA and No.10 in the WBCA poll.
 
FIVE FACTS ABOUT UCM
- Central Missouri is 4-1 after falling Friday night at St. Mary's 101-97 in double overtime. Morgan Fleming produced a career high 33 points in the loss. UCM has lost four games since the start of last season, and two have been to Heartland Conference squads (2-2 in that span against HC foes).
- The Jennies went 30-3 last season, with an 18-1 mark in MIAA play. They rebounded from a MIAA Tournament opening round loss by winning the Central Region Tournament and topping LCU and Ashland in the Elite Eight en route to a NCAA Division II National Championship.
- UCM is preseason picked first in the MIAA collected 13 of the 14 first-place votes.    
- The Jennies enter the weekend rank 34^th in assist/turnover ratio with a mark of 1.13 per game. They struggled in the category Friday with 22 turnovers and 16 assists.
- Megan Skaggs entered the week ranking 21^st nationally in field goal shooting, with a mark of 63.9% on the season. She was 3-of-8 Friday, bumping her below 60% (59.1%) on the season.
 
THE SERIES AGAINST UCM
The Lady Chaps and Jennies have one prior meeting and it came Mar. 19 in Sioux Falls, S.D. at the Elite Eight Tournament. The Jennies outlasted LCU 72-62. LCU is 3-2 all-time against Missouri based programs and 2-3 all-time against programs currently in the MIAA.
 
RECAPPING THE PRIOR MEETING VS UCM
Sioux Falls, S.D. (Mar. 19, 2018) – LCU 62, UCM 72
No.10/11 Central Missouri was held without a field goal for the final 5:12 of the game, but they had their final 14 points scored from the free-throw line to defeat No.2 Lubbock Christian University 72-62 in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Elite Eight Tournament at Sanford Pentagon. 
 
Tess Bruffey was unable to get into sync and it started with a pair of fouls against her in the opening 4:09 of the game. The quick fouls limited LCU's leading scorer and rebounder to 11 minutes in the first half. Despite her early struggles, LCU had a 12-4 lead to start the game after Delaney Gaddis knocked down a three-pointer 3:48 into the contest to help LCU open the game 5-of-6 from the field. Once the second foul took place, UCM went on an 11-4 scoring run and led LCU 20-18 at the close of the opening quarter. UCM was 7-of-10 (70%) from the field in the first quarter, with nine points coming from Morgan Fleming. LCU received seven points from Gaddis in the quarter.
 
After a hot shooting first quarter, the Jennies made their opening shot of the second quarter, but then missed 11 consecutive field goal attempts. The Lady Chaps went on a 5-of-7 stretch from the field and Gaddis field goal to close the stretch allowed LCU to take a 31-30 lead and it was one of six lead changes in the second quarter. Matching the Lady Chaps performance in the quarter, UCM closed the half 5-of-7 from the field, with three-pointers from All-American Paige Redmond and Kelsey Williams in the mix to take a 34-31 halftime lead. 
 
Maddi Chitsey scored the opening four points of the second half for LCU and they regained the lead at 35-34 2:16 into the third quarter, but UCM, opening the second half missing their first five shot attempts, responded making five of their next six field goal attempts and used a 6-0 run to take a 48-41 lead. UCM led 50-45 at the end of the quarter.
 
In the game's final 16:07, UCM was 8-of-13 from the field when attempting a shot with a lead of three or less points.  They also had a 22-13 rebound advantage to prevent LCU from having opportunities to to regain the lead. In the final 11:33, LCU was 0-for-2 from the field and committed a turnover when conducting a possession with a deficit of three or less. Seven consecutive misses inside the five minutes remaining by LCU led to them fouling the Jennies, who were 14-of-18 from the line in the fourth quarter.
 
UCM outscored LCU 22-10 from the free-throw line and 7-0 in second chance scoring. LCU opponents had made more than 16 free-throws in a game on two occasions during the season. The 22 points from the line by the Jennies was the second most, behind 25 points by Ashland on Nov. 24, 2017. LCU's only two losses of the season came in the two games. LCU being held without a second-chance point was a program low and had not been done since specialty stats have been kept on file since 2009.
 
Robertson led LCU with 16 points, going 7-of-8 from the field. Caitlyn Cunyus also finished in double figures with 13 points. The Jennies finished with four players in double figures, led by Fleming, who finished with 16 points. Redmond (14 points), Kayonna Lee (13 points) and Megan Skaggs (10 points) also chipped in offensively for UCM, who advances to the semifinals with a 28-3 record.