Duncan rains 3s as Lady Chaps drown St. Mary's

With time running down in the first half Saturday, Ashton Duncan pulled up from about 10 feet beyond the 3-point line, near the front of visiting St. Mary's bench and the scorers' table, and let fire.

Duncan's shot went in, because of course it did. It was one of those games for the Lubbock Christian University shooting guard.

Duncan made eight 3-point goals, matching a program record, and finished with 24 points, two short of her career high, leading No. 10 LCU over St. Mary's 72-39 in Lone Star Conference basketball at the Rip Griffin Center.

"I didn't feel particularly on or anything during warmups," she said, "so my teammates just did a good job finding me and thankfully I was able to knock them down. And I really like when people play zone (defense)."

The Lady Chaps' single-game record eight 3s had happened twice previously, by Bailey Haist and by Duncan. Duncan made five of her first six from long range Saturday and finished 8 for 13, not playing in the fourth quarter.

"She's one of those kids, and we have a number of them, when they have an open shot, you feel confident it's going in," Lady Chaps coach Steve Gomez said.

Senior guard Allie Schulte added 11 points and eight assists, one short of a career high, as LCU (16-3, 5-2) won its 98th home game in a row. St. Mary's (1-14, 0-4) suited up only eight players.

"I appreciate a team like that coming and playing," Gomez said. "They're short-staffed a little bit with a couple of kids out. These days, a lot of teams would take that opportunity not to play games. They've had some bad luck."

The Rattlers scored a season-low in points and got only two from Hannah Wilson, the LSC's fourth-leading scorer. The 6-foot-3 senior came in averaging 17.6.

Holding her down pleased Gomez as much as anything.

"We defended really well the majority of the game," he said. "Channing Cunyus does a great job inside. That Wilson girl was averaging 18 points a game, and she wasn't able to get very good position because Channing's intelligence and physicality was helpful.

"And we shared the ball. Having 23 assists on 29 field goals is a sign of high-quality passing and accuracy shooting."

Kelsey Hoppel, a senior on LCU's 35-0 national championship team in 2016, has the program record for career 3-point goals with 272. Jordan Hampton made 248, and Duncan is next with 238.

After last season, the NCAA moved back the 3-point line in women's basketball from 20 feet, 9 inches to 22-1 3/4. Duncan's 3-point percentage has dropped from 43.4 and 41.8 the past two seasons to 35.4 this season.

However, she doesn't think the longer distance has made much difference in her shooting percentage because she often takes shot from well beyond the 3-point line rather than spotting up on the stripe.

"I haven't really thought about it in the game," she said. "I just see a line and I make sure I'm well behind it, and I think I was even last year. I always try to get way behind the line so I don't even risk my foot being on the line. This year, I feel like I've shot more and I had a few games where I just didn't hit any, so I know that probably affected it, but I don't really notice it being further back."

LCU 72, ST. MARY'S 39

ST. MARY'S — Phillips 1-7 0-0 2, Bilic 2-2 1-2 6, Wilson 1-7 0-0 2, Culiver 2-6 2-2 7, Hardeman 3-8 2-2 11, Kucera 2-5 0-0 4, Ryng 1-2 0-0 2, Hughes 1-5 2-3 5. Totals 13-42 7-9 39.

LCU — Burr 2-8 0-0 5, Cunyus 1-4 0-0 2, J. Robertson 0-3 0-2 0, Duncan 8-13 0-0 24, Schulte 5-9 0-0 11, Foster 4-8 0-0 8, A. Robertson 0-2 1-2 1, Maddox 2-4 0-0 4, Stovall 2-3 0-0 6, Cox 1-5 0-0 2, Winfrey 0-0 0-0 0, Sumrall 0-2 0-0 0, Spurgin 1-4 0-0 2, Schumann 2-3 0-0 4, Bostwick 1-2 1-1 3, Haase 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-70 2-5 72.

St. Mary's 13 9 8 9 — 39

LCU 25 17 17 13 — 72

3-point goals: St. Mary's 6-11 (Hardeman 3-5, Bilic 1-1, Culiver 1-1, Hughes 1-2, Kucera 0-1, Phillips 0-1), LCU 12-31 (Duncan 8-13, Stovall 2-3, Schulte 1-3, Burr 1-5, Maddox 0-1, A. Robertson 0-1, Sumrall 0-2, Foster 0-3). Total fouls: St. Mary's 13, LCU 12. Fouled out: Kucera. Rebounds: St. Mary's 35 (Wilson 8, Phillips 7), LCU 38 (Burr 6). Assists: St. Mary's 8 (Culiver 3), LCU 23 (Schulte 8). Steals: St. Mary's 7 (Culiver 3), LCU 17 (Duncan 4, Schulte 4). Turnovers: St. Mary's 34 (Culiver 11), LCU 15 (Duncan 3). Blocked shots: St. Mary's 2 (Kucera, Hughes), LCU 7 (Foster 2). Records: St. Mary's 1-14, 0-4; LCU 16-3, 5-2.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: College basketball: Duncan rains 3s as Lady Chaps drown St. Mary's