LUBBOCK, Texas (January 11, 2025) – Grace Foster tied her season high with 30 points, behind a career-high six three-pointers, powering Lubbock Christian University to a 68-42 home victory over Western New Mexico Saturday inside Rip Griffin Center. The win marked LCU's fourth straight and they remain tied atop the Lone Star Conference standings (8-1) while maintaining their perfect record (5-0) in West Division play.
Foster added three assists to her 30-point game to lead the Lady Chaps (14-3, 8-1). Audrey Robertson helped out with 10 points, nine rebounds and two steals and Kennedy Chappell chipped in with eight points, four assists and three steals.
The Lubbock Christian offense was very productive from deep, making 12 threes on 32 attempts. Foster was the most prolific shooter for the Lady Chaps, draining six treys in the contest.
The Lubbock Christian defense was a problem in Saturday's game, forcing 21 Western New Mexico turnovers while committing nine. Those takeaways turned into 11 points on the other end of the floor (11-3 advantage in points-off-turnovers). Audrey Spurgin and Chappell co-led the way individually for the Lady Chaps with three steals each.
WNMU remains winless on the season (0-15, 0-9) and in the West Division (0-5). Eliza Joynes was their lone player in double figures, finishing with 14 points.
How It Happened
Lubbock Christian started out the scoring by going on an 11-0 run, culminating in a bucket from MacI Maddox, to take an early lead with 5:10 left in the first quarter. The run transpired as WNMU opened the game 0-of-11 from the field. WNMU ended the quarter on a 5-0 run with their first field goal of the game tallied with 1:11 remaining in the frame. Foster (5) and Chappel (4) combined for nine of LCU's 11 points in the opening quarter, as they led 11-5 at the close of the period. Lubbock Christian forced Western New Mexico turnovers in the period, which was needed, as LCU closed the period missing nine consecutive field goal attempts.
Lubbock Christian responded opening the second quarter 4-of-6 from the field and had a 21-11 lead before going on a 6-0 run starting at the 5:45 mark in the second period. Tia Johnson notched a field goal to highlight the run, as LCU increase its lead to 27-11. Behind six points in the quarter and 11 in the half from Foster, LCU enjoyed a 30-13 advantage heading into halftime.
The scoring surges continued in the second half for LCU, as they used an 8-0 run, punctuated by a three from Foster in the closing moments of the third quarter, to expand its lead to 53-30 at quarter's close. Foster exploded for 19 points in the quarter, hitting all five of her three-point attempts and was 6-of-7 from the field in the frame. WNMU had their best offensive effort in the third quarter. After being held to 13 points in the opening half, the Mustangs responded with 17 points off 9-of-13 (61.5%) shooting in the period.
The final quarter featured a 5-0 LCU run, finished off by Maddie Moyers' three, to grow the lead to 64-37 with 4:29 to go in the contest. Moyers, LCU's lone freshman, scored five points in the quarter, as LCU cruised the rest of the way for the 68-42 win. Of LCU's four field goals in the final quarter, three were from beyond the arc.
Game Notes
» Lubbock Christian lit it up from beyond the arc, knocking down 12 treys in the game. The 12 makes matched a season high (had 12 against Black Hills State on Nov. 3, 2024 and Thursday) and the 32 attempts is a new season high. The Lady Chaps made at least 10 three-pointers in a game for a fifth time this season and they have at least 10 three-pointers in three consecutive games (had 10 Sunday at West Texas A&M and 12 Thursday). The last time LCU had 10-or-more three-pointers in three consecutive games was in November of the 2017-18 season.
» The Lady Chaps held the Mustangs to only 38.3 percent shooting from the field, but were out-shot from the field, as LCU shot 35.4% from the field. LCU improved to 12-1 when holding opponents to under 40% from the field, 3-2 when being out-shot from the field and 4-0 when shooting under 36% from the field.
» The Lady Chaps never trailed in the game, marking the fourth time this season LCU never trailed.
» Lubbock Christian tallied 15 total assists in the game, assisting on 65% of their field goals. Maci Maddox led LCU with five assists.
» LCU had a great day defensively, holding Western New Mexico to 15 percent from beyond the arc on 13 attempts (2-of-13).
» The Lady Chaps forced 21 Western New Mexico turnovers while committing only nine on the other end. The 21 forced turnovers are the most by the Lady Chaps this season.
» Lubbock Christian had a 40-35 edge on the boards in the win. The Lady Chaps have won the rebound advantage for four consecutive games for the first time since February of the 2022-23 season.
» Grace Foster led the Lady Chaps with a game-high 30 points. She was 10-of-12 from the field and 6-of-7 from three-point range. Her matching season-high 30 points marked the fourth time in her LCU career she has reached the 30-point plateau in a contest, and it ties as the fifth-most by a Lady Chaps member since 2008.
» Lubbock Christian got a team-high nine rebounds from Audrey Robertson. The total, three off matching her career high, matched a season high.
» The win improved LCU to 7-0 at home on the season (5-0 in home LSC games).
» LCU won their 15th consecutive game in the head-to-head series against Western New Mexico. The two teams were meeting for the 29th time all-time and LCU extended their lead in the series to 19-10. LCU is now 11-2 against WNMU in Lubbock and 14-0 under head coach Steve Gomez against WNMU (overall).
Next Up
LCU faces a tough road trip next week, heading to Odessa, Texas Thursday to face UT Permian Basin and to San Angelo, Texas Saturday to face Angelo State in a pair of Lone Star Conference West Division contests.
