CANYON, Texas – The No. 3-ranked West Texas A&M women's basketball team kicks off the 2016-17 season Friday at the Division II Conference Commissioners Association Tipoff Classic in East Orange, Calif., at Santiago Canyon College.

The Lady Buffs will open the season with University of Mary (N.D.) at 10:30 p.m. CT Friday evening then will battle No. 2-ranked California Baptist at 3:30 p.m. CT Saturday in a clash of top five teams.  WT will conclude the tournament with Augustana (S.D.) Sunday evening at 8:15 p.m. CT.  There will be no live streaming of the games, but there will be live stats and links can be found at www.gobuffsgo.com on the women's basketball schedule page.  Check back with www.gobuffsgo.com for the latest news and results from the tournament.

WT enters the 2016-17 season with a 29-7 record in season-openers since 1980-81 and won last season over Colorado Mines in Golden, Colo., 65-42.  This marks the sixth time in the last years the Lady Buffs have opened the season on the road.  The Lady Buffs last played in the Tipoff Classic in 2012-13 when it was hosted by Disney in Anaheim, Calif., going 0-3 with losses to Ashland (Ohio), Gannon (Pa.) and Simon Fraser (Canada). 

Earlier this week, the Lady Buffs were picked third in the preseason Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Top 25 and were picked fourth in the Women's Basketball Division II Bulletin poll in October.  WT was picked to repeat at Lone Star Conference champions in the preseason LSC poll as voted on by league coaches, sports information directors and select region media representatives. 

The Lady Buffs have won three-straight Lone Star Conference regular season titles, two of the last three LSC tournament championships and have played in four-straight LSC tournament title games.  WT finished national runner-up in 2014 and appeared in the Elite Eight in 2015, with a regional championship game finish in 2016. 

WT head coach Kristen Mattio begins her second season at the helm of the Lady Buffs as she went 28-5 and 13-3 in LSC play last season after serving as former head coach Mark Kellogg's top assistant the previous two years.  Mattio welcomes back nine players from last season, including senior guard Sasha Watson who earned first team all-conference honors each of the last two seasons.  Watson finished second on the team in scoring last season at 11.8 points per game and was 127 of 278 from the field (.457), while going 126 of 174 from the line (.724).  She tallied 165 assists and 61 steals.

Watson finished 14^th nationally in assists last season and 26^th nationally in assists per game at a 5.0 clip which were both tops in the LSC.  WT finished seventh nationally as a team in assists with 542 and 17^th in assists per game.  She was 31^st nationally in free throw attempts and 50^th in makes which both were best in the LSC and she was fourth in the league in steals.  Watson was third in the league in steals as the Lady Buffs led the way with the top three players in steals.   The team was fourth nationally in steals with 374 and 14^th in steals per game at 11.3.

Senior Maddison Wild returns as she finished second in the league in rebounds with 220 and fourth in rebounds per game at 7.0.  Wild was third in the league in offensive rebounds per game at 3.0.   She went 96 of 210 from the field (.457) and 58 of 75 from the line (.773).  She had 80 offensive rebounds for the season and averaged 8.3 points per game with 17 blocks, ranking third on the team in rejections.

Also back is senior Alie Decker who averaged 8.0 points last season on 82 of 206 from the field (.398) and was third on the team in triples made with 48.  She had 57 assists and 50 steals.  Senior Lilley Vander Zee also returns this season as she went 71 of 141 (.504) on the post while averaging 3.2 rebounds and 5.9 points in her first season in a Lady Buff uniform.  Junior forward Madison Parker returns, as does sophomores Reagan Haynes and Taylor LaCour, along with junior Bailey Thiel and redshirt freshman Amanda Bell.

Mattio added the services of four players for the 2016-17 season with two freshmen and two transfers.  Highly touted Amarillo native Lexy Hightower enters as a freshman guard, as does Devine, Texas, native, Baylee Quisenberry, while Perryton native and Oklahoma State transfer Sydney Walton enters as a junior as does Weber State transfer Cece Wooten.

As a team last season, the Lady Buffs were 10^th nationally in scoring defense at 55.9 points allowed per game which was the second-lowest since 1980-81.  WT was 15^th in scoring margin at 14.8 points and was 63^rd in scoring offense at 70.8 points per game.  The Lady Buffs led the league and ranked 24^th nationally in three-point field goal percentage at a .366 clip, while ranking 16^th in free throws made (493) and 22^nd in free throws attempted (682). 

University of Mary enters following a 15-16 season and a 9-13 mark in the Northern Sun Conference last year.  UMary All-American and the school's all-time leading scorer Birttney Dietz graduated, but the Marauders return three starters and six letter winners. 

Senior forward Hannah Larson earned All-Northern Sun second team and all-defensive team accolades last season after averaging 13.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.2 blocks per game. A starter since day one at Mary, the Bismarck, ND, native has already scored 874 points in her career.
 
Other returning starters for the Marauders are guards Rachel Weir, a senior from Fargo, ND, and Dani Williams, a junior from Gillette, WY. Weir averaged 7.5 points and 4.5 rebounds/game. Williams scored 10.2 points/game and distributed 2.3 assists.

The Marauders were picked 12^th overall in the NSIC and fourth in the North Division with 93 points under head coach Rick Neumann.  Neumann is 61-56 beginning his fifth season in Bismarck.  Neumann guided Mary to 36 wins in his first two seasons at the helm of the program.

Mary was defeated in an exhibition game this season 80-53 by Jamestown College (N.D.) who is ranked No. 12 in National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).  Larson led the way with 11 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block in 19 minutes of action on 4 of 12 from the field.

The Lancers come off a 29-3 record in 2015-16 and a 19-1 mark in the Pacific West Conference and were picked as the preseason conference favorite as Cassidy Mihalko was named Preseason Player of the Year and Courtney Nelson joined her on the preseason all-conference list. 

Mihalko was a two-time All-American, All-West Region and All-PacWest honoree last year after scoring in double figures in all but one game as a junior. She went on a streak of 28-consecutive games where she scored 10 or more points to lead CBU to its second-straight NCAA Division II postseason appearance. Her final stats ranked in multiple NCAA Division II categories, including: fourth in three-point field goal percentage (47.7), 20th in points per game (19.9), and 40th in free-throw percentage (84.8).
 
Nelson finished the year with a 14.1 points per game average – ranking 15^th in the conference – to grab All-PacWest second team honors. She scored double figures in 25 games, including a string of 15 consecutive games to close out the year.

CBU lost to eventual national runner-up Alaska-Anchorage in the West Regional last season after qualifying for the program's first Elite Eight in 2014-15 losing in the national championship game to California (Pa.) 86-69 in Sioux Falls, S.D., where WT also was in the Elite Eight that season.

The Lancers gave Division I UC-Riverside all it could handle in an exhibition game Oct. 29 as the Highlanders won 80-74 needing all 28 points from UCR's Rejane Verin for the win.  CBU led midway through the third quarter of the game, but UCR went on an 11-5 run to close the frame and opened the final stanza with a 6-0 run.

Four CBU players were in double figures as Kamile Diaz led the way with 18 points and Mihalko added 12 points and a team-high six rebounds.  Diaz was 7 of 19 from the field and 3 of 11 from range as CBU went 9 of 29 from distance. 

Augustana (S.D.) is the lone team the Lady Buffs have played before as WT won 66-58 on Nov. 4, 2006, at Disney's Division II Tipoff Classic in Orlando, Fla.

The Vikings are coming off a 24-8 season in 2015-16 and a 15-7 record in the Northern Sun.  Augustana welcome back 14 student-athletes, including three starters with Logan O'Farrell, Sydney Rome and Shelby Selland.  O'Farrell and Rome were two of the top four scorers for the Vikings last season.  O'Farrell was tabbed as a player to watch for Augustana as it was picked third in the preseason conference poll by the league's coaches last week. 

Both O'Farrell and Rome average over 10 points per game last season and Sellend, who earned NSIC All-Freshman honors last season, was force around the basket finishing the season eighth in the conference in blocked shots per game at 1.5.

Head Coach Dave Krauth enters his 28th season at the helm of the Viking program. Under Krauth's direction, Augustana has reached a Final Four, won an NSIC Tournament Championship and posted 18, 20-win seasons, including 11 of the last 12 seasons. Krauth attributes a lot of his, and his team's success, to his love of basketball and continuity within the team.

Following the tournament, WT returns home for an exhibition game Nov. 12 at 3 p.m. against Wayland Baptist in the First United Bank Center, before opening the 2016-17 home slate Nov. 18 at 5:30 p.m. at home against St. Edward's beginning a stretch of six-straight home games.