The LCU Lady Chaps Head to Yet Another National Championship Game
The Lady Chaps have only been in the NCAA Division two ranks for six seasons and they are already heading to their 3rd National Championship game appearance as an NCAA Division II participant and 4th overall. The Lady Chaps played for an NAIA National Championship in 2006 but failed to accomplish the goal. They won their first one in their first DII season back in 2016 and again in 2019 which makes them defending champs after the 2020 tournament was canceled.
That didn't stop the Lady Chaps from navigating the adversity of 2020-21 with an unblemished record seeking championship glory Friday, March 27th at 7:00 pm on CBS Sports Network.
The Lady Raiders flew through their Lone Star Conference slate with only two games finishing inside of a 10 point spread. Then the Lady Chaps waltzed through the Lone Star Conference tournament beating St. Mary's, Cameron and 10th ranked Texas A&M-Commerce before heading to the NCAA Tournament. The Lady Raiders won their first-round game against conference opponent Cameron by 30 points. Their second-round matchup, Southwestern Oklahoma State, suffered a similar fate.
That brought the Lady Chaps to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight. The Lady Chaps opened against the eight seed Daemon College who was nationally ranked at 15. Emma Middleton would lead the way with 17 points and six boards and LCU would win the Elite Eight round 66-49.
Next up the Final Four, which was arguably LCU's toughest matchup all season and included the Lady Chaps climbing out of an early 10 point deficit to finally take control of the game in the final minutes of the 4th quarter. All-American Allie Schulte played the entire 40 minutes against Central Missouri and had 24 points shooting 8-of-14 from the field including 50% from three and 6-of-7 from the charity stripe. Entering the Final Four Central Missouri was ranked 20th nationally and was the 5 seed in the Elite 8.
The Lady Chaps went chalk through their side of the bracket and will now play the three seeded and 2nd ranked nationally Drury Panthers for all the marbles.