Five women’s basketball teams bound for the Elite Eight in the Division II NCAA Tournament were No. 1 regional seeds.
Lubbock Christian University did its part to make sure all the top seeds didn’t get there.
Grace Foster and Kennedy Chappell scored 15 points apiece and LCU knocked off top-ranked Texas Woman’s 62-54 on Monday night in Denton to win the South Central regional for the fifth time in 10 years.
Maci Maddox and Audrey Robertson added 10 points each for LCU (32-4), which beat conference rival Texas Woman’s (33-2) for the first time in three meetings this season and ended the Pioneers’ 27-game win streak. Playing on the Pioneers’ home court at Kitty Magee Arena, the Lady Chaps surged from a 35-24 deficit late in the third quarter to a 62-52 lead in the game’s final minute.
More: Maci Maddox scores 22, Lubbock Christian women’s basketball wins NCAA regional semifinal
More: LCU caps undefeated season with national Division II title
LCU advances to the site of the Elite Eight, where the last three rounds of the D-II tournament are played. This year, it’s in Pittsburgh at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, the 10,000-seat arena that’s home to Duquesne basketball teams.
Ashley Ingram scored 20 points for Texas Woman’s, whose only other loss this season was Nov. 23 at UT Tyler. Scout Hoffman added nine for the Pioneers.
Averee Kleinhans’ steal and layup stretched Texas Woman’s lead to 35-24 with 3:05 left in the third quarter. LCU countered with a 38-17 run in which Chappell scored 12 points, Foster 11 and Tia Johnson seven.
The Lady Chaps erased the 11-point deficit with five 3-point goals in the last three minutes of the third quarter and the first minute of the fourth when Johnson made the last of the five 3-pointers to move LCU in front 39-38.
The Elite Eight unfolds from March 24-28. The eight regional champions will be reseeded, so pairings aren’t yet known.
The five No. 1 seeds are Union (Tenn.), Pittsburg State, Bentley, Grand Valley State and Cal State Dominguez Hills. The other three are No. 2 seeds: LCU, Coker and Gannon.
The Lady Chaps won the D-II national championship in 2016, 2019 and 2021.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock Christian stuns Texas Woman’s for South Central Region title
