Lady Chaps do it again

3rd national championship Lady Chaps do it again

By DAVE WOHLFARTH

A year does make a difference. The Lady Chaps went from kicking balls to kicking butts.

Flashback to March 2020. The Lady Chaps had won 12 straight and took the Lone Star Conference Tournament title with ease. At 28-3 they were aiming to take the South Regional Tournament championship next, advance to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight and defend their national championship.

Didn’t happen. The day before LCU was scheduled to play its first regional game, the tournament and the season were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Five minutes into their practice, the Lady Chaps were informed that there would be no game the next day. The 2019-20 season was over.

“We were called in by Coach (Steve) Gomez, and he lays out the truth,” Laynee Burr, a sophomore then, recalled, “and we played a game of kickball to try to get our minds off it.”

Now look at March 2021. The Lady Chaps were unbeaten and had just won the LSC tourney again. They not only won the South Central Regional, but they kicked aside all their remaining opponents and captured the big prize.

It was the Lady Chaps’ third Division II national championship in six years. Really, in five national tournament years because of the 2020 cancellation. That’s remarkable. But even more amazing is the fact that two of those national champs were undefeated. LCU is the only Division II team to have two unbeaten seasons.

Gomez has guided the Lady Chaps to titles in 2016, 2019 and 2021. The 2016 team (35-0) was heavily favored and squashed everyone in sight. The 2019 squad (32-5) was a surprise winner with a fast finish. Last year’s team (23-0) survived some nervewracking situations on and off the court.

Because of continuing COVID-19 concerns, LCU’s schedule was reduced to practically a conference-only slate. The LSC teams played the same teams twice on most weekends and game postponements were frequent, often with late notice.

Strange, adventurous year

On the court, the Lady Chaps, even though they did eventually kick their opponents in their south ends, had to rally from their own behinds several times late in the season.

“The adaptability of our kids was so key to just handle the constant changing,” Gomez said, “so it was just a fun year ... strange, adventurous.” (Continued on next page)

The Lubbock Christian Lady Chaps celebrate at the end of the NCAA Division II national championship game March 26, 2021, as they defeated Drury, 69-59, before a small COVID-19 crowd in Columbus, Ohio, for their third national title. (Photo by LCU Athletics)

The premature ending of the 2019-20 season played into the Lady Chaps’ success last year. “So there was a lot of unsatisfied pent-up, and so from the start, you want to make the most of every day. Last year’s (201920) senior team didn’t get that chance,” Gomez said. “They (the 2020-21 Lady Chaps) thought they were playing with a bigger purpose than just winning a game. They wanted to play well.” Burr, from Stratford and now a 5-9 senior guard, called the end of her sophomore season devastating. “We were at the spot where we were rolling and rolling and hitting our peak point, and our seniors were really important to us that year,” she said. “It was a big sting. I truly believe we could have made it back, but it was just bad. We just hurt for each other.” For teammate Channing Cunyus, the termination of the 2019 season was personal. “That was really sad for me personally because I was never going to get to play (again) with my sister,” she said. “I thought I had at least eight more games to get to play together.” Channing was a sophomore in 2019; her sister Caitlyn was a senior. Caitlyn now is in dental school at UT-San Antonio. The Cunyus sisters had played on five state championship teams at Canyon High School. Channing, now a 5-9 senior forward, was a standout on three of those state title squads. But she said playing on a college national championship team was on a whole different level. “I don’t think there’s much comparison to winning a state tournament. I feel so much work and time goes into a national championship,” she said. “It kinda feels like our job. I mean, we

(Continued from previous page) practice sometimes twice a day, we have meetings all the time. Seriously, all I think about, honestly, is basketball.”

“Whereas in high school, we had one practice. It wasn’t as intense. In high school, you go to class from 8 to almost 4. Here, I see my teammates almost every 30 minutes.”

Last year’s schedule called for LCU to play back-to-back games, sometimes on consecutive days, against conference opponents.

“It was kind of the baseball model, playing the same team over the weekend,” Gomez said. “It cut down on scouting a little. We knew who we were playing.”

In late January and early February, the Lady Chaps had four games in a row postponed, again because of COVID problems. They didn’t play for 15 days before picking up a couple of wins against Western New Mexico, an LSC member that opted to not participate in the conference competition last season. Another cancellation (because of weather) meant that it was 23 days between games that actually counted in the LSC.

“It was kinda weird because some days we’d have a game canceled on game day. Or we’d have a game canceled and we’d have like a 10-day gap,” Channing Cunyus said. “Our Christmas break, usually we get six or seven days, but this (last) year we got like 12.”

She also said it was deflating, even at practices, because “you kept wondering when we were going to get to play again.”

Gomez pointed out that athletes, and teams, get in a rhythm of playing. When that rhythm is broken, it throws them off a bit. “We had kids that were mature enough to handle it and not let it just totally throw them off their game,” he said. “That was an odd kind of year. Most everybody went through that. We weren’t unique in that.”

Five senior starters

But the Lady Chaps were unique last season in that they had five senior starters, all of whom Coach Steve Gomez were on the 2019 national championship squad. They certainly provided a high level of maturity.

Those senior starters were Allie Schulte, Emma Middleton, Ashton Duncan, Juliana Robertson and Madelyn Turner. Channing Cunyus and Burr, both juniors last year, were the top subs. Those seven played most of the minutes for LCU.

The only good news from the COVID pandemic was that the seniors were granted an extra year of eligibility if they so desired. Schulte, Duncan and Robertson – all in graduate school at LCU – accepted that offer and will play for the Lady Chaps again this season. Middleton transferred to Division I Abilene Christian, where she is playing. Turner is in a speech therapy master’s program at Texas Tech. LCU does not have a graduate speech therapy option.

Lubbock Christian’s Allie Schulte gets ready to let a shot fly at the NCAA Division II national championship tournament in Columbus, Ohio, in March 2021. Her coach, Steve Gomez, watches along the sideline. Schulte led the Lady Chaps in scoring with 15 points a game and in 3-point accuracy with a 48.4 percentage of made shots. (Photo by LCU Athletics)

Schulte, a 5-10 guard from Nazareth, led the Lady Chaps in scoring, averaging 15 points and 3.5 assists a game. She also was the team’s most accurate 3-point shooter with a .484 percentage from long range. Schulte did a little of everything, pulling down 4 rebounds a game.

Duncan, a 5-9 guard from Lubbock Trinity Christian, shot .424 from beyond the arc and led LCU in successful 3-pointers with 67. “She’s just such a good shooter,” Gomez said of the daughter of LCU men’s coach Todd Duncan and sister of Texas Tech recruit Ethan Duncan. Ashton Duncan contributed 11.7 ppg.

Robertson, a 5-10 forward from Kerrville, was the top rebounder (5.8 rpg) for the Lady Chaps and scored 7.4 ppg.

Middleton, a 6-1 forward from the Lubbock home-schooled Titans, was second in scoring (13.3 ppg) and rebounding (5.5 rpg).

Turner, a 5-8 guard from Abernathy, chipped in with 6.2 ppg and 2.5 apg.

Juniors Channing Cunyus (5.9 ppg), and Burr (5.5 ppg), played some key moments, rounding out the Lady Chaps’ Super Seven.

It obviously was a well-balanced team that averaged 74.2 points on offense but held opponents to 50 a game.

Despite that 24-point average difference, the Lady Chaps had a few close calls.

The first came in the regular-season finale at West Texas A&M. Two days earlier, the Lady Chaps had whipped the Lady Buffs by 26 points at the Rip Griffin Center. The Lady Chaps trailed by nine points early at WT – their biggest deficit of the season. And WT led at each of the first three quarter stops. But Schulte nailed four free throws in the final two minutes, and LCU hung on for a 48-45 win.

The next scare came in the South Central Regional finals when

(Continued from previous page) Southwestern Oklahoma State led LCU by eight in the third period.

“At that point, we were all pretty mature players in terms of – I mean we’d already been through a national championship,” Channing Cunyus said. “Just about anything that came our way, we’d already seen it. That really helped us like not really freak out.”

Burr concurred.

“We just kinda had to get our stuff together and regroup, and our seven said we were going to get it done, and we did,” she said.

The Lady Chaps regrouped, went on a 15-0 run and won that game going away, 78-57.

They trailed again, by 10 this time, against Central Missouri in the national semifinal game. Thanks to Schulte’s career-high 24 points, LCU rallied and escaped with a 63-61 victory. Duncan blocked two Central Missouri 3-point shots in the final 23 seconds.

Defeated Drury in finals

The top-seeded Lady Chaps never trailed in downing Drury 69-59 in the national finals in Columbus, Ohio. Schulte scored 18 points and was named the Elite Eight’s most outstanding player. Schulte and Middleton made the all-tournament team.

That was the Lady Chaps’ 23rd win without a loss. They won the LSC regular season title with a 21-0 record and captured the postseason conference tournament title.

Did Gomez think the Lady Chaps would go undefeated when the 2020-21 season began?

“There’s a book here, Win the Day. It’s sort of a concept that we’ve had for years,” he answered. “Win the possession. And win the game. We always thought we had a chance on every game. And we had a chance to lose every game. It doesn’t take much to not win. So we can win every game we play; we have the ability. But we’re not so good that we can just show up and win.”

Gomez’ teams have won every game they’ve played in two national championship campaigns. The 2016 and 2021 perfectos were accomplished by squads with different looks and style.

“That (2016) team was long and lanky. We played zone a lot, a bunch of 2-3 zone. That team offensively was really potent quickly,” Gomez said.

“This past season was just solid. Played a lot of man defense. Executed together well. Relied more on really great teamwork.”

Yet there were similarities, too, in that both teams worked well together and had strong senior leadership, he said.

Reflecting more on the two unbeaten teams, he said, “Last year was a strange but exhilarating year. Some years, like that (2016) 35-0 year, it’s such a relief because everybody kinda expected it. “Last year I guess we were the top seed going in, but it wasn’t a team that was so overpowering. We had to perform. We had to play well to win. And those girls did.” They certainly got their kicks.

Emma Middleton of Lubbock Christian watches her shot rise to the basket against Drury in the Division II national title game March 26, 2021, in Columbus, Ohio. MIddleton was second in scoring and rebounding for the Lady Chaps, averaging 13.3 points and 5.5 rebounds. (Photo by LCU Athletics)

Lady Chaps Laynee Burr (5) and Allie Schulte (21) give each other a congratulatory hand slap at the Elite Eight in Columbus, Ohio, in March 2021. They helped Lubbock Christian to its third NCAA Division II national championship. (Photo by LCU Athletics)