Duncan's hot hand fuels Lady Chaps to opening-night triumph
Senior guard Ashton Duncan scored a career-high 26 points while making a Rip Griffin Center record eight 3-point goals, leading Lubbock Christian University past St. Mary's 88-52 Friday night in a women's basketball season opener.
The eight 3s also matched the LCU women's program record and gave the Lady Chaparrals the fuel they needed for their 79th consecutive home victory. Duncan was 8 of 12 from long range, breaking Ginger Armacost's mark of seven 3s against Wayland Baptist on Jan. 8, 2001. Bailey Haist made eight 3s in a road game in 2017.
LCU made 15 of 29 3s as a team, including 6 of 9 in the first quarter as they bolted to a 28-10 lead.
The Lady Chaps got 15 points from Allie Schulte, nine from Juliana Robertson and seven from Emma Middleton, all seniors.
Senior guard Mya Culiver scored a career-high 18 points for St. Mary's, which brought only eight of its 13 players to Lubbock. Hannah Wilson added 13 points.
LCU's first 16 games, and all but two during the regular season, are Lone Star Conference games.
The Lady Chaps will host St. Mary's again at 5:30 p.m. Saturday under the LSC scheduling format for the pandemic-delayed season. LSC teams playing opponents from one of the conference's other two divisions will play a two-game series on consecutive days at the same site.
The LCU-St. Mary's men's games scheduled for Friday night and Saturday night both have been postponed because of COVID-19 protocols, LCU announced. The men's game Friday was called off hours before tipoff after the visiting Rattlers had already gone through their morning shootaround.
Dates to reschedule the games are to be determined.
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