CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – The Campbellsville University women's basketball team will hit the road once again for the state of Tennessee as they venture to Jackson for the Champion's Classic this Friday and Saturday.
 
Both games are scheduled for 1 p.m. ET tipoffs with the voice of Lady Tiger basketball, Matt Payton on the call on 88.7 The Tiger and online on the CU Sport Network.
 
The Lady Tigers will face a pair of NAIA Preseason ranked foes in No. 14 MidAmerica Nazarene University on Nov. 29 and No. 8 Westmont College on Nov. 30 at the Oman Arena.
 
No. 2 CU has only faced one other ranked opponent this season in No. 16 Bethel back on Nov. 15 when the Lady Tigers earned a 54-41 win in Pulaski, Tenn. on a neutral court.
 
The Champion's Classic will host 10 teams that are all ranked inside of the NAIA Preseason Top-25 including six of the top-10, headlined by preseason No. 1 Freed-Hardeman and No. 2 Campbellsville.
 
SERIES FACTS VS. MNU

• These NAIA national powerhouses have met up twice in their history of women's basketball with both meeting coming in the same season.
• The Lady Tigers and Pioneers faced off twice in the 2014-15 season, once in the regular season then again in the NAIA Tournament second round as CU came out on top in both meetings.
• Both meetings were rather low scoring affairs as the winning score for Campbellsville in each contest was 52 in the national tournament win and 62 at home during the regular season.
• On March 20, 2015, the Lady Tigers earned an NAIA quarterfinal bid after their 52-45 victory over MNU behind 12 points off the bench from Madison Clements.
• CU also got 11-point outputs from Lindsey Burd and Caroline Owen in that game with LeeAnn Grider adding six points and seven assists as the Lady Tigers held the Pioneers to 36.5 percent shooting from the field and 11.1 percent shooting from behind the three-point arc.
• The regular season matchup in Campbellsville earlier that year saw Burd and Chelsea Craig each drop 16 on their way to a 62-51 win over MNU with Owen adding 12 points as well.

 
SERIES FACTS VS. WESTMONT

• The Lady Tigers and Warriors have only met one time previously to this season at the exact same tournament back on Nov. 26, 2016.
• Westmont came away with a 59-50 victory in Jackson, Tenn. as they limited CU to 33.3 percent shooting from the field and 21.4 percent from behind the three-point arc.
• With the Warriors holding that 1-0 advantage in the series history, they are the only team on the current, 2019-20, schedule for the Lady Tigers not to own a prior victory against.
• That 2016 matchup was between the No. 4 ranked Lady Tigers and No. 2 ranked Warriors as this 2019 matchup will also see a No. 2 ranked team, this time the Lady Tigers take on a top-10 foe in No. 8 Westmont.
• For Westmont in 2016, Aysia Shellmire led all scorers with 22 points and 15 rebounds – matching her career-high in boards. Lauren McCoy finished with 11 points and six blocks for Westmont, while Abby Miller and Madison Clements also led the Lady Tigers with 11.
• In the defensive battle in 2016, Westmont was able to overcome a 18-11 first quarter deficit to hold CU to single digits in the second and third quarter then continue to pull away in the fourth to pull off the win.

 
A BRIEF STAY AT HOME

• Campbellsville was able to play their only home game of November this past Tuesday evening when they hosted West Virginia Tech at the Powell Athletic Center.
• The Lady Tigers earned an 83-58 victory over the Golden Bears to move to 9-0 behind a 20-point effort from senior forward Madison Faulkner.
• After the first home game of the season for the Lady Tigers, they are currently on a 18-game winning streak at the Powell Athletic Center.
• Their last home loss came on Jan. 20, 2018 when they lost a 10-point game to No. 4 Shawnee State before they finished that season with four home wins, followed by a 13-0 2018-19 home slate.
• The Lady Tigers will have two more home games in December before we hit the 2020 part of the schedule on the 14th and 19th when they host the second meetings of the season against both Fisk University and Martin Methodist College.

 
SCOUTING MIDAMERICA NAZARENE

• The Pioneers will also enter the weekend undefeated with a 4-0 record after early season wins against Haskell, William Penn, Culver-Stockton, and Baker.
• Most recently, MNU earned a win over Baker on Tuesday by 11 points at a 65-54 final on the road for their third road game in their first four games to start the season.
• MidAmerica Nazarene ranks near the top of the NAIA Division I rankings in a key defensive category as they are seventh in field goal percentage defense, limiting their opponents to 32 percent shooting from the field.
• Leading scorer, Whitney Clampitt for the Pioneers averages 17.3 points per game and is strong from behind the three-point arc as she averages 3.5 three pointers per game.
• MNU is a solid shot blocking team, averaging 4.3 blocks per game led by their pair of six footers in Mackenzie Loe and Megan Scott as Scott leads the way in blocks with five through four games.

 
TIGER CLAWZ

• Campbellsville is the No. 1 assisting team in NAIA Division I with a team total of 181 so far on the season behind starting point guard Caitlin Hall's 55 assists, good for No. 2 individually in that category.
• Forcing turnovers has been a big part of the CU game plan through the early portion of the schedule as they force their opponents into about 30 turnovers per game at 29.7 and rank third in NAIA DI in total steals at 145 this season.
• Savannah Gregory has maintained her strong defensive prowess this season with 27 steals so far, good for 8th in the NAIA, through nine games for a 3.0 steals per game average, leading CU in that category.
• Lexy Lake has shown to pick up her outside shooting game this season as she leads the NAIA in three-pointers made at 34 so far this season.
• She is only 17 away from tying her season total three pointers from last year as she's also boosted her playing time from 13.4 to 21.2 minutes per game.

 
1,000-WIN PLATEAU

• In the 45th season of Lady Tiger basketball history, Campbellsville reached a milestone that had only been accomplished twice before in the history of NAIA women's basketball, win 1,000 games as a program.
• The monumental win came in CU's 91-59 win over Martin Methodist College last Saturday in Pulaski, Tenn. as part of the MSC/SSAC Crossover Challenge.
• Campbellsville joins Wayland Baptist and Union University (Tenn.) as the only other programs to reach the feat as Union is no longer part of the NAIA after moving to the NCAA Division II level.
• The Lady Tigers have reached their 1,000 wins with only two head coaches in the program's history with the 661 from Donna Wise followed up by the 339 and counting from her former player and assistant Ginger High Colvin.

 
UP NEXT FOR CU

• Campbellsville will get six days away from game action when they start Mid-South Conference play with a road matchup with rival Lindsey Wilson College on Saturday, Dec. 7.