PUEBLO, Colo. (November 8, 2019) - No.1 Lubbock Christian University's title defense of their 2018-2019 national championship got underway Friday at Massari Arena. Maddi Chitsey posted 18 points and LCU connected on 11 three-pointers to open the 2019-20 season with a 77-60 win over Colorado State - Pueblo, who is hosting the Al Kaly Shrine Classic.
 
LCU followed the first-quarter media timeout (led 8-7 at the timeout) going on a 13-1 run, which was part of a 20-5 scoring surge to close the quarter for a 28-12 lead. A trio of three pointers from Ashton Duncan were nailed in the quarter to ignite the inferno of scoring (20 points scored in the final 4:52 of the quarter).
 
The Lady Chaps missed their opening two shot attempts in the second quarter, but then knocked down six of their next seven shot attempts. They had a 7-0 run and a 5-0 run to extend their lead to 43-18 with 5:15 left in the first half. Harmony Pettis hit a three-pointer for CSU-P with 2:40 left in the half to spark a 9-0 ThunderWolves run and cutting LCU's lead to 43-27. Chitsey (14 points) and Allie Schulte (13 points) led LCU in first half scoring, and their 27 combined points in the quarter helped LCU to a 47-28 halftime lead. LCU was 17-of-34 (50%) from the field in the half and 8-of-14 (57.1%) from three-point range. Schulte (4-of-5) and Duncan (3-of-4) combined to go 7-of-9 from three-point range in the first half.
 
Only one Lady Chaps starter played more than 10 minutes in the second half, as all 14 Lady Chaps received minutes in the half. It led to LCU shooting 34.6% (9-of-26) in the half from the field. On a positive, LCU was 9-of-10 in the half from the free-throw line. CSU-P made things interesting late in the third quarter, going on a 6-0 run to cut LCU's lead to 56-45 with 1:23 left in the quarter. Emma Middleton helped LCU hold-off the comeback bid by netting a field goal for the final basket of the quarter and following with a three-pointer 15 seconds into the fourth quarter for a 61-45 lead. LCU held the lead to at least 14 points in the final quarter.
 
LCU as 43.3% (26/60) from the field, hitting 44% (11/25) of their three-point field goal attempts and going 14-of-17 (82.4%) from the free-throw line. Chitsey led all scorers with 18 points and joined teammate Juliana Robertson with a team-co-leading seven rebounds. Schulte finished with 13 points and assisted on six buckets. LCU had 29 points off the bench, with Duncan posting 12 points. Duncan and Schulte were each 4-of-7 from three-point range. Schulte matched a career-high in three-pointers (4) for a fifth time in her career.
 
CSU-P, shooting 32.3% (20/62) from the field, received 15 points each from Khiya Adams and Sydni Williams (had nine rebounds to miss out on a double-double). The game marked the coaching debut of ThunderWolves head coach Tommie Johnson.
 
TURNING POINT
LCU was 7-of-11 (63.6%) from the field in the final five minutes of the first quarter (during the 20-5 scoring run), with Ashton Duncan hitting three-of-four three-point attempts in the span. LCU also had a shooting stretch in which they were 8-of-11 (72.7%) from field from 1:37 left in the first quarter to 5:15 remaining in the second quarter (built their lead to 25, which was their largest in the game).
 
INSIDE THE NUMBER
LCU is now 3-0 in season openers against CSU-Pueblo, and all three have been with the ThunderWolves head coach making his coaching debut. The Lady Chaps improved to 27-14 all-time in season openers and 11-6 under head coach Steve Gomez in openers.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
LCU (1-0) remains in Pueblo and faces Metropolitan State of Denver (Metro State) at 4:30 p.m. CT inside Massari Arena as part of the Al Kaly Shrine Classic. MSU Denver fell 69-51 Friday to Texas A&M – Commerce in Pueblo.