D2CCA TIPOFF CLASSIC AT THE TRAILHEAD MONTANA STATE BILLINGS (1-0) vs. No.1 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (1-0) November 6, 2021 • 8:00 p.m. (Central) Billings, Mont. • Alterowitz Gymnasium (3,500) TOURNAMENT WEBSITE: Click Here LIVE STATS: Click Here WATCH ONLINE: MSUBsports YouTube Talent: Chris Byers (Game is also being televised locally in Billings on SWX) LCU Social Media:
	MONTANA STATE BILLINGS (1-0) Location: Billings, Mont. Conference: Great Northwest Athletic (GNAC) Head Coach: Gary Van Atta (Carroll - MT, 1987) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF)
	LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN LADY CHAPS (1-0) Location: Lubbock, Texas Conference: Lone Star Head Coach: Steve Gomez (LCU, 1988) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF)

BIG SKY DEBUT
The defending NCAA Division II Women's Basketball National Champions open their 2021-22 campaign in Billings, Montana, taking part in the D2CCA TipOff Classic at the Trailhead for a trio of games. LCU tips off their season Friday at 3:30 p.m. (Central) against Montevallo (LCU won 69-55 GAME RECAP) before facing tournament host Montana State Billings Saturday (8 p.m. Central) and closing their stay with No.11 Tampa Sunday (4:15 p.m. Central). The classic/tournament is the first of four LCU will participate in during the regular season. LCU opens play with their first five games on the road. Next Week, LCU heads to Lakewood, Colo. for the RMAC/Lone Star Conference Tip-Off Classic before their first home game on Nov. 19, as LCU hosts the Lady Chap Invitational.
 
THAT WAS FUN
COVID caused a lot of heartaches in the world of college athletics last season, but LCU was able to overcome many obstacles and turn the 2020-21 season into a memorable one by claiming their third NCAA Division II national championship in program history. The Lady Chaps went 13-0 in LSC play and claimed a LSC Championship, leading to the No.1-seed at the NCAA Division II South Central Regional (held in Canyon, Texas). LCU claimed the regional with a win over Southwestern Oklahoma State and earned a return trip to Columbus, Ohio for the NCAA Division II Elite Eight tournament. In the Buckeye State, the Lady Chaps claimed wins over Daeman, Central Missouri and Drury to claim the title and close the season 23-0. LCU went 35-0 in 2016 and their 23-0 season last season, marking the fifth time that has occurred in NCAA postseason history in Division II and the first time in Division II a single program has completed multiple undefeated seasons.
 
WHO RETURNS
Every LCU player last season received an additional year of eligibility due to COVID, but the nature of scholarships, graduation, grad-school opportunities, injuries and playing opportunities. Not every player returned, but LCU did have  11 student-athletes return, and among them were three starters. Ashton Duncan, Juliana Robertson and Allie Schulte were the three returning starters from last season's  squad.
 
Duncan, a Second Team All-LSC selection last season, averaged 11.7 points per game for the Lady Chaps. She has 186 career three-pointers and is two three-pointers away from moving into fifth place in program history in career three-pointers. She would move past Angie Taylor, who had 187 three-pointers from 1996-2000.
 
Robertson was a Third Team All-LSC honoree last season. She has appeared in 108 career games with LCU and averaged 7.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game last season.
 
Schulte claimed a myriad of honors last season en route to a national title and Elite Eight Most Outstanding Player accolades. She was a member of the LSC's All-Conference (First Team), All-Defensive Team and All-Academic Team. Schulte opens this season with 1,212 career points after averaging 15.1 points per game last season. She also has 323 career assists and 229 steals. Schulte is seven steals away from 236 career steals, which would place her third all-time in career steals in program history. She would pass Sherry Blackwell, who had 235 steals from 1988-1991. The guard is on pace to finish fourth in career field goal shooting (53.2%) and is on pace to shatter the career three-point shooting percentage mark (47.5%).
 
WHO THEY LOST
Two starters not returning to this season's roster are Emma Middleton and Madelyn Turner, who are the only players departing that played a significant amount of minutes.
 
Middleton transferred to Abilene Christian as a graduate transfer and will have one season of eligibility for the Division I Wildcats. The Elite Eight All-Tournament Team selection claimed All-LSC (Second Team), LSC Championships All-Tournament Most Outstanding Player, South Central Region All-Tournament Team and Region Championship Most Outstanding Player honors last season after posting 13.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game for the Lady Chaps. She led the LSC with 48 blocks and finished with 103 in her LCU career.
 
Turner, a shooting guard, graduated and did not return for a fifth season with the Lady Chaps. She had 13 points in the national title game last season to surpass 500 career points. The All-LSC Honorable Mention selection last season averaged 6.5 points a contest. She completed her LCU career with 82 three-pointers.
 
NEW FACES
LCU has five new additions seeking their Lady Chaparrals debut. Carli Bostwick, Grace Foster, Rachel Haase, Reese Schumann and Audrey Spurgin are first-year Lady Chaps on the 2021-22 roster.
 
Bostwick is from Lubbock, Texas and was a homeschool product competing for the Lubbock Titans. Last season, as a senior, she was part of the Titans squad that claimed a National Christian HomeSchool Basketball Championships (NCHBC) 18U National Championship. The championships in Springfield, Mo. was the Titans first since 2014 and Bostwick poured in 13 points after notching a double-double (20 points, 10 rebounds) in the national semifinal. Bostwick, an inside-out player, capitalized on the big stage, claiming multiple All-Tournament team selections at state and national homeschool tournaments.
 
Foster joins the LCU roster from Childress High School in Childress, Texas, where she excelled in volleyball and basketball. She claimed District MVP honors in both basketball and volleyball and multiple All-Region and All-State honors on the hardwood.  As a senior (2020-21), she averaged 19 points and nine rebounds a game in basketball and led the volleyball program to their first playoff win in school history. The Amarillo Globe News selected her as a First Team AGN Girl's Basketball All-City selection.
 
Haase is a guard from Amarillo, Texas. She prepped at Amarillo High, where last season (2020-21) she posted 10.1 points per game as a senior, leading to All-City honors by the Amarillo Globe News. She claimed a pair of District 3-5A All-District First Team honors, All-Region honors and was a TABC Academic All-State honors. Her older brother, Aaron, attended Wichita State and was a 2021 MLB Draft selection of the Detroit Tigers.
 
Schumann comes to LCU from Houston, Texas. She attended Clear Lake High School, where she averaged 10.9 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. The 6-2 post player was a two-time 24-6A All-District selection. Played travel-amateur basketball for the Houston Lady Roadrunners.
 
Spurgin makes the move to Lubbock from Fredericksburg, Texas. A 6-1 inside player, Spurgin is a product of Fredericksburg High School, where she tallied over 1,000 career points for the Billies. She was a two-time TABC and TGCA All-State selection (2020 and 2021), leading the Battlin' Billies to the UIL State Tournament in 2020 (lost in the semifinals) and to the region championship game of the UIL 4A Region IV tournament. She is the younger sister of Abby Spurgin, who played for West Texas A&M.
 
The five are all true freshman, and they join sophomores Maci Maddox, Audrey Robertson and Shaylee Stovall, who each have four seasons of eligibility remaining as well, due to COVID season of competition waivers. That places eight of LCU's 16 rostered players with four season of eligibility entering the season.
 
NATIONALLY KNOWN
For the first time in program history, LCU claimed the No.1 spot in the WBCA's National Top-25 Preseason Poll, and for the first time they were the favorites in both the WBCA and D2SIDA preseason polls.
 
LCU received the No.1 ranking receiving 20 of the 22 first-place votes available in the WBCA poll. The WBCA NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Preseason Poll, which the WBCA did not produce last season (COVID) is a poll LCU has consistently debut in each season a poll has been conducted since being eligible. Their No.1 ranking marks LCU's third consecutive preseason poll as a top-10 preseason favorite (they were preseason picked No.2 in 2019-20 and No.10 for the 2018-19 season). Along with their consecutive top-10 debuts, LCU has claimed No.11 (2016-17) and No.18 (2015-16) in their prior appearances in the poll.
 
LCU has found their way into the D2SIDA preseason poll seven consecutive seasons, marking every season they have been eligible to appear (due to the transfer from NAIA to NCAA Div. II), ranking No.1 (2019-20), No.3 (2018-19), No.23 (2017-18), No. 4 (2016-17), No.15 (2015-16) and receiving votes in 2014-15. The Lady Chaps received one of the 16 first-place votes, and was the only school other that preseason favorite, Drury, to receive a first-place vote.
 
SO ARE SOME OTHERS
LCU will face a nationally ranked program Sunday, when they face No.11 Tampa. LCU went 6-0 against nationally ranked programs last season and 4-2 in 2019-20 against the nations ranked foes.
 
SEASON OPENERS
LCU is probably more known for how they finish the season, than how they begin the season. Following Friday's win, the Lady Chaps are 9-6 over their last 15 season openers. LCU opened last season with an 88-52 win over St. Mary's in Lubbock (Dec. 11, 2020). LCU is 29-14 all-time and 13-6 under head coach Steve Gomez in openers. The 2017-18 season opener in Commerce, Texas marked LCU's last season opener that was a neutral site game, as they defeated No.5 CSU-Pueblo 57-52.
 
EYE-OPENING
The 2021-22 season marks LCU's ninth since leaving the NAIA and LCU is 214-29 in that span (88.1%). In NCAA postseason play, the Lady Chaps are 20-1 all-time.
 
SWEET HOME (ON) CHICAGO
LCU went 13-0 last season inside Rip Griffin Center. The Lady Chaps, who wrapped up home play with the LSC Championships and becoming the first team since 2007 to win the LSC Championship tournament on a campus venue, went 13-0 this season at home and with their active home win streak sitting at 91 games, which is the active and all-time leading mark in NCAA Division II women's basketball. LCU's last home loss came on Jan. 1, 2015 against Oklahoma City University. LCU, who also has a 7-0 mark in NCAA postseason play in Lubbock in the mix (not including a 3-0 mark in LSC postseason play), has also won 74 consecutive home conference games, with their last conference home loss occurring Jan. 10, 2013 (against Oklahoma City). They completed a 49-0 all-time mark in Heartland Conference home games (they are 21-0 in LSC home games).
 
NCAA DIVISION II'S LONGEST HOME WIN STREAKS
91 - Lubbock Christian Jan. 1, 2015 -->
87 - Neb.-Kearney Jan. 31, 1995-Nov. 24, 2001
85 - West Tex. A&M Jan. 9, 1987-Dec. 6, 1991
 
NCAA'S ACTIVE-LEADING HOME WIN STREAKS
91 – LCU (Division II)
37 – North Georgia (Division II)
36 – Messiah (Division III)
 
FIVE THINGS ABOUT MSUB
1 > The Yellowjackets scaled their schedule down to eight games last season, going 5-3 overall and 3-2 at home. Their contests were split between a trio of opponents, as they played Lewis-Clark State College, Rocky Mountain College and Northwest Nazarene.
2 > MSUB is preseason picked to finish seventh in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Alaska Anchorage and Western Washington, who LCU has played over the past five years, are the conference favorites.  Both LCU and MSUB used to be Heartland Conference members. MSUB was in the Heartland for two seasons (2005-07).
3 > Just as LCU head coach Steve Gomez is in his 19th season at LCU, MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin is in his 18th season as head coach at MSUB. Woodin has a coaching mark of 270-197. The two coaches also spent time coaching high school basketball before coaching collegiately.
4 > The 'jackets opened their campaign with a 72-66 win over Minot State. Taryn Shelley, a preseason ALL-GNAC selection, had 25 points in the win. She has earned all-conference honors in each of her first two years at MSUB.
5 > Skylar Patton is a lone Texan on the MSUB roster, as she is from Houston (New Caney). She averaged 9.0 points a game last season and is a Gillette College transfer.
 
THE SERIES AGAINST MSUB
LCU and MSU Billings have never met. LCU has only had one prior meeting against a Montana-based program, as on Dec. 29, 2007 at the Las Vegas Shoot-Out (Sierra Vista High School hosted in Las Vegas, Nev.), the No.14 ranked Lady Chaps edged out the Lady Bulldogs of Montana-Western 63-60.