Game Notes in PDF Format

CANYON, Texas – The number three-ranked West Texas A&M women's basketball team opens the 2016-17 home slate Friday at 5:30 p.m. versus St. Edward's University at the First United Bank Center.
 
THE RANKINGS - The Lady Buffs enter Friday's game with a 2-1 record on the year, while St. Edward's is 1-2.  WT is ranked third in the preseason Women's Basketball Coaches Association Top 25 and 14th in the Division II Sports Information Director's Poll. 
 
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME - The game will be broadcast on KPRF 98.7 JACK FM with Lucas Kinsey having the call.  He is in his first year as the voice of the Lady Buffs after handling play-by-play duties for football this fall. The game will have live audio/video streaming and live stats with links at www.gobuffsgo.com on the women's basketball schedule page.
 
RECAPPING WAYLAND BAPTIST - Following the tournament in California for the D2 Conference Commissioner's Association (D2CCA) Tipoff Classic Nov. 4-6, the Lady Buffs will be playing their first regular season game in 12 days, but did play an exhibition game against Wayland Baptist last Saturday at the First United Bank Center.  WT pulled out a hard-fought 61-56 victory over the Flying Queens.  WT opened a 20-9 lead in the first quarter, but WBU came roaring back in the second for a 30-24 WT lead at halftime.  In the second half, WT extended the lead to ten at 45-35 through three quarters and built as much as a 16-point lead in the fourth, but WBU answered with an 11-0 run and pulled within 61-55 with 1:07 left.  Neither team scored a field goal in the final 1:35 of the game.
 
LOOKING BACK AT CALIFORNIA - The Lady Buffs began the season Nov. 4 with a hard-fought 51-42 win over University of Mary (N.D.) as the game was tied 32-32 following three quarters before WT outscored the Marauders 19-10 in the final stanza for the win.  Both teams really struggled shooting and turnovers were a big factor in the game.  WT was 15 of 44 from the field and just 2 of 15 from beyond the arc, but went 19 of 22 at the line.  Against #2 Cal Baptist, the Lancers held the lead for a majority of the game and by as many as 11 points, but a furious second half rally by the Lady Buffs tied the game at 64 with 4:17 left, but CBU ended the game on a 12-2 run as the Lady Buffs was held without a field goal for all but 41 seconds of the run for a 76-66 loss. The Lady Buffs responded with a 65-57 win over Augustana in the finale in the Lady Buffs' best shooting game of the tournament going 23 of 53 for 43.4 percent.  Senior Maddison Wild tallied a career-high 22 points with 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season on 7 of 10 from the field and 8 of 9 form the line.  For the tournament, WT shot .390 from the field and .273 from beyond the arc, while going an impressive 50 of 61 from the line (.820) and pulling down an average of 37 rebounds per game and scoring 60.7 points per game.
 
ABOUT ST. EDWARD'S - The Hilltoppers enter with a 1-2 record after a hard-fought 76-72 loss to Huston-Tillotson on Wednesday evening in the Hilltoppers' home-opener.  Despite outshooting and outrebounding Huston-Tillotson, SEU allowed 11 triples in 36 attempts and went to the line just six times making three.  Shakera Barnes paced the Hilltoppers with 21 points on 10 of 18 from the field and had 12 assists as three SEU players had double-doubles.  Khiani Clark added 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Haley Joly chipped in 13 points with a game-high 14 rebounds.  SEU returns all five starters from last year's team which reached the Heartland Conference Tournament championship game finishing 12-17.  Barnes was tabbed Heartland Conference Newcomer of the Year last year.  She was named to the Heartland Conference Preseason All-Conference team as voted on by league coaches and sports information directors.  In addition, SEU was picked fifth in the preseason Heartland poll. This season the Hilltoppers are shooting .395 from the field, .333 beyond the arc and .675 from the line, while averaging 43.0 rebounds per game.  Barnes leads three Hilltoppers in double figures at 17.0 points and 8.3 assists per game, while Clark is averaging 13.3 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. Clark is shooting a team-best 15 of 23 from the field (.652), while Madison Schenck is 7 of 10 from range coming off the bench to lead the team.
 
ABOUT THE LADY BUFFS - WT enters the game led by senior Sasha Watson who is averaging 15.0 points per game on 12 of 30 from the field (.400) and she is a team-best 20 of 23 from the line (.870).  Watson leads the team with ten assists on the year and five steals.  Wild is second on the team in average at 12.7 points per game and leads the team in rebounding at 6.7 per contest.  She is 13 of 23 from the field (.565) which leads the team, while going 10 of 11 from the line (.909) which also leads the team.  Senior Alie Decker is third in scoring at 12.0 points per game on 12 of 26 from the floor, while she leads the team from beyond the arc on 6 of 16 (.375).  Senior Lilley Vander Zee, junior Cece Wooten and junior Madison Parker each are second on the team in rebounding at 4.3 per game.  As a team, the Lady Buffs are shooting at a .390 clip on 60 of 154.  They are just 12 of 44 from beyond the arc (.373) and are 50 of 61 from the line (.820).  WT is averaging 37 rebounds per game, 11.3 assists, 21.7 turnovers, 2.7 blocks, 5.3 steals and 60.7 points per game. Conversely, the Lady Buff "D" is holding teams to .392 from the field (67-171), 15 of 50 from beyond the arc (.300) and 26 of 43 from the line (.605).  The opposition is averaging 32.3 rebounds and 58.3 points per game.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING - WT ranks second in the LSC in blocked shots with eight and 57th nationally, while ranking 31st in the nation in free throw attempts (61) which leads the league, while ranking 14th nationally in free throws made (50) and 13th in free throw percentage (.820).  The Lady Buffs also are 36th nationally and fourth in the LSC in rebounds with 111.  Individually, Watson is 24th nationally and third in the LSC in assists (10), while Wild is 24th in double-doubles with one.  Watson is 12th in free throw attempts (23), seventh in made free throws (20), while Decker is 31st and leads the league in minutes played at 105:00.
 
INSIDE THE NATIONAL POLLS - WT was picked third in the preseason Women's Basketball Coaches Association Top 25 and fourth in the preseason Women's Division II Bulletin Top 25.  The Lady Buffs opened at eighth in the D2 Sports Information Director's top 25 and sit 14th this week in the D2SID Poll. 
 
PICKED TO REPEAT - The Lady Buffs were picked to repeat as Lone Star Conference champions by the league's coaches, sports information directors and select members of the region's media.  WT garnered 312 points and 16 of 30 first-place votes as the Lady Buffs edged Angelo State by three first-place nods and one point (311).  
 
STRONG AGAINST THE LSC - The Lady Buffs are 49-5 since Feb. 9, 2013, in Lone Star Conference regular season play and have an overall mark of 60-7 overall including both LSC and NCAA playoffs during that span.  WT is 27-1 at home (26-1 regular season), 23-4 on the road (regular season) and 10-2 in neutral sites (LSC playoffs).  WT is 350-68 all-time in LSC regular season play.
 
WINNING TRADITION - Last season marked the fourth-straight year of 20 or more wins for the Lady Buffs.  WT has won 30 or more games in 2013-14 and 2014-15 and have 30 wins in six seasons since 1980-81.  The Lady Buffs have not had a losing season since 1980-81 and have won 20 or more games in 27 seasons during that span with a string of nine-straight from 1983-1992.  Since the 2012-13 season, WT is 112-24 (.824) with three NCAA postseason appearances, a national runner-up finish (2014), two Elite Eight trips (2014, 2015), and a NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearance (2016).  In the LSC the Lady Buffs have been just as successful with three Lone Star Conference regular season titles (2014-2016), two Lone Star Conference tournament championships (2014, 2015) and four-straight trips to the LSC championship game.
 
LAST TIME VERSUS ST. EDWARD'S - The Lady Buffs posted a 66-52 victory in Austin last year on the exact same date as this year's game.  In a tightly contested first half WT outscored the Hilltoppers 15-9 in the first period, but SEU rallied for a 22-17 lead in the second quarter as the teams went to intermission with WT clinging to a 32-31 lead.  The Lady Buffs pulled away in the second half outscoring SEU 34-21 and 23-15 in the fourth quarter.  Decker paced the Lady Buffs with a team-high 12 points and Watson chipped in 11.  WT outrebounded SEU by 17 for the game (45-28) as the Lady Buffs shot 47.2 percent (25-53) and 13 of 19 from the line, while going 3 of 12 from beyond the arc.  Bailey Hill and Shakera Barnes each had 12 points for the Hilltoppers who shot just 35.4 percent on 23 of 65 and went to the charity stripe just one time in the game as WT had just seven fouls for the contest.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES WITH ST. EDWARD'S - The Lady Buffs lead the all-time series with St. Edward's 5-0 including the win last year and a 90-72 victory in Canyon in the NCAA South Central Regional on Mar. 14, 2014.  WT is 3-0 in Canyon and 2-0 in Austin.  Prior to the meeting in 2014, the teams hadn't played since 2006.
 
LADY BUFFS SIGN THREE - WT announced the signing of three for the 2017-18 season during the early signing period in November as Daria Cosgrove (Plano, Texas), Abby Spurgin (Fredricksburg, Texas) and Zada Swoopes (Whitewright, Texas) all inked with the Lady Buffs.