By james art Lubbock, Texas (October 27, 2024) – The Lubbock Christian University women’s basketball season begins this week as they head to Houston, Texas on Tuesday for an exhibition game against Rice in preparation for Saturday’s 11 a.m. season opener against Kutztown at the D2CCA Women’s Basketball Tip-Off Classic in Canyon, Texas (hosted by West Texas A&M at First United Bank Center).
LCU is competing in a D2CCA-sanctioned tournament for the fourth consecutive season. The Lady Chaps hosted last season’s event, with the 2022-23 tournament being held in Kansas City, Mo. (hosted by the MIAA), and the previous year’s event was hosted by MSU Billings in Billings, Mont. In addition to Kutztown, who LCU last faced in San Antonio during a 2018-19 Thanksgiving tournament, the Lady Chaps will face Black Hills State on Nov. 3 to conclude the opening weekend tournament.
The D2CCA event is one of three tournaments the Lady Chaps will participate in this season. UT Tyler will host the rotating RMAC/Lone Star Conference Tip-Off Classic, branded as the South Central Region Challenge, where LCU will face Colorado State Pueblo (Nov. 8) and Colorado Christian (Nov. 9) in Tyler, Texas. Before the Christmas break, LCU will travel to Las Vegas, Nevada for the Holiday Hoops Classic, facing Embry-Riddle (Fla.) on Dec. 19 and Montana State Billings on Dec. 20 at South Point Arena, a tournament they also participated in 2022-23 season.
For the fourth time since the 2012-13 season (third time not related to COVID) and third straight season, LCU will not participate in a Thanksgiving tournament, but they will host a pair of non-conference contests in November. Colorado Springs (UCCS) will serve as LCU’s home opener on Nov. 16 at 7:00 pm at the Rip Griffin Center. They will also host Southwestern Oklahoma State on Nov. 26 (4:00 p.m.) as they meet for the fifth time following LCU’s 2019 NCAA Division II National Championship Game win in double OT over the Lady Bulldogs.
November’s non-conference games are part of a busy month that also includes Lone Star Conference play beginning Nov. 21 at home to host St. Edward’s. LCU has 22 LSC games on the slate, with 11 home and 11 road contests. The divisional standings that returned two seasons ago remain in place in the LSC this season, with two eight-team divisions. LCU will play every divisional opponent at home (14 games) and play the other divisional teams once (8 games). The top eight women’s teams will advance to the LSC Championship, which will be played on the following 2024 schedule in Frisco, Texas: Division winners will automatically receive the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds with seeding based on the rankings of the conference in the 22 conference games.
LCU has 30 regular season games on the schedule (13 at home) and hopes to earn a berth in the NCAA Division II postseason, which is scheduled to begin March 14 with the South Central Tournament. Regional champions advance to the Elite Eight tournament, which is set for March 24-28 in Pittsburgh, PA (at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse).
Gearing up for regular season play, LCU heads to Rice on Tuesday to play an NCAA Division I opponent in an exhibition game for the first time since facing Mississippi State on Nov. 4, 2019. LCU is 4-5 overall times in exhibition games against NCAA Division I Programs, with their last win coming on October 28, 2018 over SMU (62-51 at Moody Coliseum). The Lady Chaps played three exhibition games over the summer in Brazil as part of their NCAA foreign tour and their matchup with Rice concludes their preseason play.
The Lady Chaps are preseason seeded No. 2 in the LSC. LCU was preseason picked to finish fourth last season and ended up atop the Western Division (12-2 in the Western Division) and claimed an appearance in the NCAA South Central Regional with a 22-10 overall record (17-6 in the conference).
All scheduled regular season games can be viewed via live streaming on FloSports. FloSports recently partnered with the Lone Star Conference to offer a subscription-based service that provides live video coverage. A FloSports subscription gives you access to all content on their platform. For more details, visit www.lcuchaps.com/live.
LCU has partnered with HomeTown Tickets again this season to handle online advance purchase tickets, which can be accessed at www.lcuchaps.com/tickets. Information regarding the LCU Chap Club (or travel inquiries for LCU’s in-season tournaments may be directed to the LCU Director of Athletic Engagement, Kim Wheelerat [email protected].