LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (1-0) vs. METRO STATE of DENVER (0-1) November 9, 2019 • 4:30 p.m. CT Pueblo, Colo. • Massari Arena (3,900) LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: CSU-Pueblo Video Talent: No Commentary Reported LISTEN: No Radio or Online Audio Talent: N/A LCU Social Media:
	MSU DENVER ROADRUNNERS (0-1) Location: Denver, Colo. Conference: Rocky Mountain Athletic (RMAC) Head Coach: Tanya Haave (Tennessee, 1985) Roster | Stats | Game Notes
	LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN LADY CHAPS (1-0) Location: Lubbock, Texas Conference: Lone Star Head Coach: Steve Gomez (LCU, 1988) Roster | Stats | Game Notes

NOW IT COUNTS
The title defense of Lubbock Christian University's second NCAA Division II national title season officially gets underway Friday in Pueblo, Colo., as they participate in the Al Kaly Shrine Classic inside Massari Arena on the campus of Colorado State – Pueblo. LCU opens with CSU-Pueblo Friday and follows facing Metropolitan State of Denver (Metro State) Saturday. Texas A&M – Commerce joins the programs in the Al Kaly Shrine Classic, marking the fifth straight season the four teams have met for a season-opening tournament.
 
WHAT AN EXHIBIT
As the Lady Chaps place their focus towards the regular season, their exhibition schedule can't be overlooked. The Lady Chaps played a trio of exhibition games against nationally ranked NCAA Division I opponents. Their tough preseason slate opened Oct. 28 at No.15 Texas (83-73 loss) and followed with a 98-63 loss at No.1 Baylor, which marked a battle between defending NCAA Division I and Division II national champions. The preseason concluded with a 78-57 loss at No.8 Mississippi State. LCU raised eyebrows in all three games. At Texas, LCU was down 65-61 in the fourth quarter and had a 42.4% - 40% shooting advantage from the field in the game. At Baylor, LCU shot 42.9% in the third quarter and were outscored 46-34 in the second half of play.  In their final game in Starkville, Miss. LCU led 25-22 at the close of the first quarter and trailed 43-41 at the half. Combining the exhibition schedule with the regular season, LCU will play their first five contests on the road before their home fans are able to see them at home Nov. 15.
 
POWER EXHIBITION SCHEDULE
Diving further into LCU's trio of exhibition games, their game at Baylor marked LCU's second-ever game against a defending Division I national champion. They faced 2014-15 national champion UConn during the 2015-16 exhibition season in Hartford, Conn. Both LCU and UConn went on to claim a national championship in their division in 2015-16. This season marked LCU's first season to play three Division I foes. Last season was LCU's first season to play a pair of Division I opponents, as they played exhibition games at SMU (in Dallas) and New Mexico (in Albuquerque, N.M.).
 
GLANCING BACK AT LAST SEASON
Success has turned into an expectation for the Lady Chaps, but last season's Division II national title for LCU was not fully expected. The Lady Chaps were opening the season without a returning All-American, as they were without Tess Bruffey, who completed her 2017-2018 season and career as a two-time Heartland Conference Player of the Year. Bobbi Chitsey and Olivia Robertson were LCU's only members off their 2015-16 championship season last year, and the two would be serve as pieces of the puzzle to lead LCU to a 32-5 national championship season. LCU was out of the top-25 for 11 of the in-season D2SIDA polls and eight of the in-season WBCA polls, but was able to win the Heartland Conference regular season title and conference tournament to clinch a berth to the South Central Region Tournament as a No.3 seed. Lubbock Christian garnered a road victory at No.2-seed and No.15-nationally ranked Colorado Mesa (in a sold out Brownson Arena) in the region tournament and topped Angelo State in the region championship inside a sold out Rip Griffin Center to garner a trip to their third Elite Eight Tournament (all in a four-season span). LCU topped No.20 North Georgia, No.1 Drury and No.4 Southwestern Oklahoma State en route to the title in Columbus, Ohio. Their win over SWOSU for the title came in double-overtime (a NCAA Division II first), with returning forward Maddi Chitsey nailing a three-pointer in the closing seconds of overtime to force the second overtime.
 
WHO RETURNS
Maddi Chitsey (13.8 pts., 5.7 reb.), Caitlyn Cunyus (6.2 pts., 2.9 reb.) and Allie Schulte (10.6 pts., 3.0 reb.) are returning members from last season's squad. They represent three of LCU's top-four leading scorers from last season. Juliana Robertson (4.7 pts. 3.8 reb.) started twice and came off the bench 35 times and "Madi" Madelyn Turner (3.4 pts., 1.0 reb.) made 36 appearances off the bench, as the two were vital depth members last season. Each will see starts this season. LCU was without Cunyus in the exhibition season and Turner served as point guard in those contests against Division I squads, which showed its importance during the season. Ashton Duncan, who hit 16 of her 26 three-pointers in conference play, Laynee Burr (42.9% from three-point range), Channing Cunyus (58.6% shooting from the field) and junior Taylor Stevenson return to add depth at the perimeter. Emma Middleton (averaged 3.2 points in 7.7 minutes per game) joins Chitsey and Robertson as returning inside players.
 
WHO THEY LOST
Bobbi Chitsey, Olivia Robertson and Kailin Davis will be missed on the LCU roster. Chitsey and Robertson were starters last season and are LCU's only players part of two championship squads. Robertson claimed Most Outstanding Player in last season's championship game. She averaged 14.7 points per game last season, averaging 17.7 per game in the Elite Eight Tournament. She closed out her LCU career with 1,107 points in 124 games played. Robertson finished with the third-best career free-throw shooting percentage (87.3%) in program history. Bobbi (averaged 8.9 points per game last season) finished her LCU career with 892 points and 418 rebounds in 122 games. She posted a career field goal shooting mark of 50.4%, which included 74 three-point field goals. Davis was a "sixth-player" for the Lady Chaps and was one of five players to appear in all 37 games. The Air Force transfer averaged 3.3 points per game last season and spent two seasons with the Lady Chaps.
 
NEW FACES
There are four new additions, who will dawn a Lady Chaps jersey for a first time this season. The four newbies consist of three freshmen and a sophomore transfer. The first-year Lady Chaps are Courtney Andersen, Whitney Cox, Savannah Sumrall and Brylee Winfrey. Andersen is a sophomore junior college transfer joining the Lady Chaps roster from Eastern Arizona College. She appeared in 30 games (29 starts) and led the team in blocks (34). The guard averaged 6.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Cox comes to LCU from Flower Mound High School. She averaged a team-leading 12.2 points a game last season as a senior, with a team-best 9.5 rebounds a game. Cox spent four seasons with the varsity, including her freshman season as a teammate of sister Lauren, who was a two-time state Gatorade Player of the Year and is at Baylor. Sumrall comes to Lubbock Christian from Wellington High School (Wellington, Texas), where she was a three-time Class 2A All-State selection for the Skyrockets in basketball (TGCA all three years and TABC in 2019) and an All-State selection in Cross Country in 2018 as a senior. The Amarillo Globe named her to the Super Team following her senior season, as she averaged 14 points and five rebounds a game to claim District 2-2A MVP honors and led Wellington to the Region I-2A finals. Winfrey continues a long tradition of recruits making the LCU roster from Canyon, Texas and Canyon High School. The guard had an enjoyable senior season last year as District 3-4A MVP, additionally claiming All-State honors in basketball and cross country.
 
NATIONALLY KNOWN
The preseason rankings for the 2019-20 season were released last week (D2SIDA, WBCA along with Lone Star Conference) and the Lady Chaparrals carry the highest expectations in program history to start a season. D2SIDA placed the defending national champions No.1 and the WBCA ranked LCU No.2 despite the Lady Chaps receiving 14 of the 23 first place votes. Each ranking is their highest preseason ranking in program history. The LSC has LCU ranked No.1 in their preseason rankings, as they prepare for their first season of competition in the conference (last season LCU was member of the Heartland Conference).
 
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 12 season openers. LCU opened last season with a 73-53 win over Metro State in Lubbock (Nov. 9). LCU is 2-0 in season openers when facing CSU-Pueblo. In 2017-18, LCU opened their season in Commerce, Texas with a 57-52 win over No.5 CSU-Pueblo. In season openers, LCU is 26-14 all-time and 10-6 under head coach Steve Gomez. Four of LCU's prior five season openers have been on the road.
 
FIVE THINGS ABOUT CSU-PUEBLO
1 > The ThunderWolves are coming off a 16-13 campaign in 2018-19, finishing tied for fourth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) with a 14-8 record. They went 7-6 at home inside Massari Arena last season.
2 > Colorado State - Pueblo is preseason picked eighth in the RMAC Preseason Poll. ThunderWolves members Khiya Adams, JaNaiya Davis and Sydni Williams received "Player to Watch" recognition.
3 > CSU-Pueblo plays a trio of Lone Star Conference members this season, as they play Texas A&M – Commerce Saturday and will face West Texas A&M and Eastern New Mexico in West Texas A&M's Thanksgiving Classic.
4 > Tommie Johnson is the new head coach of the ThunderWolves and he makes his debut against LCU. The debut marks the third consecutive coaching debut against LCU by a CSU-Pueblo women's basketball head coach. Jim Turgeon (2015) and Curtis Loyd (2017) were prior CSU-Pueblo head coaches who faced LCU in their ThunderWolves coaching debut.
5 > The Pack led the RMAC last season with 4.72 blocks per game. Khiya Adams and Sydni Williams each averaged 1.0 blocks per game (shared fifth place in the RMAC). The two join JaNaiya Davis as returning starters for CSU-Pueblo.

THE SERIES AGAINST CSU-PUEBLO
LCU leads the all-time series at 5-4 against CSU-P (formerly known as Southern Colorado). The home team won the first five meetings, with LCU bucking that trend with a 2015-16 season-opening win in Pueblo. Last season's meeting resulted in LCU defeating CSU-Pueblo 78-74 in the TAJ Hospitality Classic inside Rip Griffin Center (Nov. 10, 2018). 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. Four of the prior six meetings have been in Colorado (three in Pueblo) and under Steve Gomez's watch.
 
ACTIVE LADY CHAP LEADERS VS. CSU-P
Here is a look at LCU's top three active leaders career vs. CSU-Pueblo:
 
Caitlyn Cunyus   1GP   16.0 pts/g
Juliana Robertson   1 GP   11.0 pts/g     
Maddi Chitsey   3GP   7.3 pts/g
 
PREVIOUS RECAP VS. CSU-P
Nov. 10, 2018 (Lubbock, Texas) – CSU-P:74 - LCU:78
No.3/10 Lubbock Christian University had five players in double figures, including Olivia Robertson who scored 22 points and was one of two sets of sisters to finish in double figures, as they defeated Colorado State University – Pueblo 78-74 Saturday at the TAJ Hospitality Classic inside Rip Griffin Center. The win extended LCU's home win streak to 52 consecutive games.
 
LCU never led by more than 11 points and the final margin of victory was a four-point win, but despite the narrow margin, LCU led the final 37:51 once Bobby Chitsey nailed a three-pointer to give LCU a 3-2 lead in the first quarter. A 7-0 LCU run in the opening quarter helped LCU lead 16-7 and they built the lead to 19-9. 
 
The Lady Chaps, leading 19-11 at the close of the opening quarter, needed the first quarter build-up to overcome a hot-shooting second quarter by the ThunderWolves. CSU-Pueblo was 10-of-11 (90.9%) from the field in the second quarter, but they only outscored LCU 25-23 in the quarter, as the Lady Chaps tallied eight points in the quarter from the free-throw line. Olivia Robertson was able to draw three fouls in the quarter and was 4-of-4 from the free-throw line in the quarter.  She had nine points in the first half and LCU led 42-36 at the half.  The Pack had a 24-10 scoring advantage over LCU in the paint in the half, while LCU had a 12-5 scoring advantage from the free-throw line (LCU was 12-of-12 from the line in the half).
 
Juliana Robertson converted a layup 2:40 into the third quarter to put LCU up 47-36, which was their largest lead of the game. Naomi Torgerson recorded 12 of CSU-Pueblo's 17 points in the quarter, but LCU's 11-point lead was cut to 60-53 through three quarters in the books.
 
CSU-Pueblo was able to cut LCU's lead to a one possession game on three occasions in the fourth quarter, but the ThunderWolves never had a possession trailing by one possession. The Lady Chaps were able to garner breathing room with a 9-1 run as three minutes remained for a 76-66 lead. LCU never shot better than 40% in each of the first three quarters, but finished with a 7-of-11 (63.6%) shooting stretch during the fourth quarter.  
 
Olivia Robertson scored 13 of her game-high 22 points in the second half and also added seven rebounds in the game. Her sister Juliana finished with a career-high 11 points. The Chitsey sisters combined for 24 points, with Maddi chipping in 11 points and Bobbi proving 13 points. Allie Schulte was LCU's lone non-sister in double figures, scoring 10 points and proving nine assists.
 
CSU-Pueblo had four players in double figures, led by JaNaiya Davis led CSU-Pueblo with 21 points. They also received 15 points from Laureyn Heyn.
 
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT MSUD
1 > Metro State is coming off a 16-13 record last season and finishing third in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings with a 15-7 mark.
2 > The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference preseason picked the Roadrunners fourth in the conference. RMAC Players to Watch for Metro State were Maggie Justinak, Bree Wellington and Jaiden Galloway.
3 > The Roadrunners lose four starters this season, which account for 56.7% of minutes played and produced 67.5% of the points scored during the 2018-19 season. The only returning player is Sophomore Jaiden Galloway (3.9 points, 2.0 assists per game).
4 > - Using a 29-7 scoring advantage in the second quarter, MSU Denver claimed an exhibition game win (79-64) over NAIA program MidAmerica Nazarene. Freshman Ashley Bernales hit six three-pointers in the win.
5 > Prior to playing LCU, Metro State will face Texas A&M – Commerce Friday. TAMUC joined LCU in Grand Junction, Colo. last season as a NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament qualifier.

THE SERIES AGAINST MSUD
LCU leads the all-time series 4-2. The first meeting was on Nov.5, 2011 (game was an exhibition game for Metro State) with Metro defeating LCU 61-44 in a contest LCU was 0-of-15 from three-point range. LCU claimed a win in the following meeting 81-63 on Nov. 16, 2012 in Denver, as Metro was ranked No.7 nationally and LCU carried a No.1 ranking in the NAIA. Last season, LCU defeated MSU Denver 73-53 (Nov. 9, 2018) overcoming a 15-poiint deficit in the season opener.
 
ACTIVE LADY CHAP LEADERS VS. MSUD
Here is a look at LCU's top three active leaders career vs. MSU Denver:
 
Caitlyn Cunyus   1GP   7.0 pts/g
Allie Schulte   2 GP   9.0 pts/g     
Maddi Chitsey   3GP   9.3 pts/g
 
PREVIOUS RECAP VS. MSUD
Nov. 9, 2018 (Lubbock, Texas) – MSUD:53 - LCU:73
Lubbock Christian University's Maddi Chitsey (21) and Allie Schulte (18) combined for 39 points and No.3/10 LCU was able to overcome a 15-point first half deficit to claim a 73-53 season opening victory Friday inside Rip Griffin Center.

LCU trailed 23-8 with 54 seconds left in the opening quarter, as MSU Denver shot 58% (10/17) from the field in the opening quarter and knocked down three-of-four three-point attempts. Trailing 25-12 1:39 into the second quarter, Schulte, who was 4-of-5 in the game from long distance, hit a three-pointer to ignite a 20-0 LCU run. Schulte scored 10 of the points during the run, which witnessed LCU go 6-of-10 from the field.
 
Following a tough first quarter, in which LCU was 26.7% from the field (4-of-15), they cruised to shoot 57.5% (23/40) the rest of the way.  They outscored MSU Denver 24-8 in the second quarter to take a 34-31 halftime lead.
 
LCU was 15-of-25 (60%) from the field in the second half. They received 18 points in the second half from Maddi Chitsey, who was 6-of-6 from the field in the half. She was 3-of-3 from long range for a career high three-point field goals mark (three). Chitsey had 11 points in the fourth quarter, as LCU was 10-fo-14 (71.4%) from the field in the quarter to outscore the Roadrunners 24-11.
 
Schulte and Chitsey were two of three Lady Chaps in double figures, as Olivia Robertson registered 12 points. Robertson was a +22 on the floor and a point shy of Schulte, who was +23. LCU finished the game 49.1% (27/55) from the field, with a 10-of-24 (41.7%) mark from three-point range. They had a 20-8 scoring advantage in points off turnovers after a 19-9 advantage in the turnover category. MSU Denver lost despite 16 points from Emily Hartegan.