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CANYON, Texas – The #21 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M continue their homestand on Friday afternoon as they host the Adams State Grizzlies in the opening game of the WT Pak-A-Sak Thanksgiving Classic with tipoff scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at the First United Bank Center in Canyon.
 
ADAMS STATE
The Grizzlies are guided by second year head coach Jaime Green who holds an overall record of 2-28 during her time in Alamosa. Green came to Adams State following a stint as the head coach at Newman.
 
ASU enters the weekend with an overall record of 0-4 following road losses to Fort Hays State (79-39) and Nebraska-Kearney (70-41) last weekend. ASU will wrap up their six-game road trip to open the season this weekend in Canyon before hosting CSU-Pueblo and New Mexico Highlands to open RMAC action.
 
The Grizzlies finished the 2018-19 campaign with an overall record of 2-24 as they went 2-20 in league action with their two victories coming against Fort Lewis and Colorado Christian. Senior guard Zakiya Beckles leads the way offensively for the Grizzlies as the New Jersey native has gone 17-of-46 (36.9%) from the floor to average 11.8 points per game.
 
WT HEAD COACH KRISTEN MATTIO
Kristen Mattio has continued the storied tradition of Lady Buff Basketball as she enters her fifth season at the helm of the West Texas A&M in 2019-20. Mattio has registering an overall record of 117-25 during her time in Canyon for a winning percentage of 82.4% as the Nashville native is the second fastest head coach in program history to reach the 100-win plateau with a 95-78 decision at Cameron on February 2, 2019.
 
WINNING TRADITION
The 2018-19 season marked the seventh-straight year of 20 or more wins for the Lady Buffs. WT 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 28 seasons during that span with a string of nine-straight from 1983-1992.
 
WBCA DIVISION II TOP-25 POLL (NOV. 19)
The Drury Lady Panthers remained atop of the poll as they picked up 10 of the possible 23 first place votes for 555 points followed by Lubbock Christian (12 first place, 537), Grand Valley State (511), Azusa Pacific (one first place, 496), Fort Hays State (481), Ashland (428), Lee (400), Saint Anslem (399), Cal, Pa. (360) and Alaska Anchorage (334) to round out the top ten.
 
The South Central Region was represented by Lubbock Christian (2nd), Texas A&M-Commerce (20th), West Texas A&M (21st ), Westminster (23rd), Tarleton (RV) and Angelo State (RV).
 
HOME SWEET HOME
West Texas A&M is home to one of the finest multi-purpose facilities in the country as the First United Bank Center has served as the home of the Lady Buffs since January 26, 2002. The Lady Buffs are a staggering 219-32 inside of the FUBC during that time for a winning clip of 87.4%. WT has averaged 1,075 fans per contest since the facility opened its doors with the largest crowd coming on Opening Night with 4,941 members of Buff Nation seeing the Lady Buffs take on rival Abilene Christian.
 
NEW LOOK LSC
The Lone Star Conference welcomes seven new women's basketball members for the 2019-20 campaign with Lubbock Christian, Oklahoma Christian, St. Edward's, St. Mary's, Texas A&M International, Arkansas-Fort Smith and UT Tyler. The league will now be comprised of three six-team divisions as each institution will play a home/away contest against each of the other teams within their division, and a single game versus the other 12 conference opponents.
 
Divisional champions and seeding for the LSC Championship will be determined by winning percentage within each division and by using overall league winning percentage and head-to-head matchups as tie-breakers. The LSC Championship returns to Frisco, Texas and the Comerica Center on March 5-8.
 
LSC BASKETBALL PRESEASON POLL
The defending LSC Champion Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M have been picked second in the 2019-20 LSC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll while senior guard Lexy Hightower earned Preseason Player of the Year honors.
 
Defending National Champion Lubbock Christian picked up 33 of the possible 54 first place votes for a total of 813 points to sit atop of the poll followed by West Texas A&M (14 first place, 787), Angelo State (one first place, 733), Texas A&M-Commerce (two first place, 667) and Tarleton (two first place, 645) to round out the top five. 
 
Eastern New Mexico (one first place, 617) ranked sixth followed by St. Mary's (550), Midwestern State (456), St. Edward's (448), Texas Woman's (407), Arkansas-Fort Smith (one first place, 339), Oklahoma Christian (301), Texas A&M-Kingsville (288), Cameron (284), Western New Mexico (222), UT Permian Basin (172), UT Tyler (171) and Texas A&M International (76).
 
PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Hightower cemented herself as one of the top all-around players in Division II Basketball during her junior campaign in 2018-19 as the Lone Star Conference Player of the Year went 205-of-400 (51.3%) from the floor including 83-of-179 (46.4%) from behind the arc and 42-of-56 (75%) from the free throw line to lead the Lady Buffs in scoring with 16.2 points per contest to go along with 62 assists, three blocks and 36 steals while averaging 30.5 minutes per game. 
 
The former Amarillo High Lady Sandie became the 22nd member of the 1,000 Career Point Club back on January 26th as she enters her senior campaign as the 15th leading scorer in program history (1,278), Hightower picked up D2CCA Honorable Mention All-American accolades while being named a Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) All-American for the second straight season.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The #21 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M opened up Lone Star Conference action in style on Saturday afternoon as they held the rival Greyhounds of Eastern New Mexico to just 19 points in the second half on their way to a 61-47 victory in front of over 800 fans at the First United Bank Center in Canyon.
 
The Lady Buffs were led offensively by Delaney Nix who went 5-of-10 from the floor including 5-of-9 from behind the arc for 15 points followed by Braylyn Dollar with 12 points, Megan Gamble dished out a game-high nine assists while Tiana Parker was a force in the paint with six points, eight rebounds and five blocks.
 
The Greyhounds were led by Zamorye Cox who went 6-of-16 from the floor including 3-of-8 from deep for 15 points to go along with six rebounds, six assists and four steals, Natalie DeLonge chipped in eight points and four boards for the Hounds in the loss.
 
WT finished the game going 23-of-52 (44.2%) from the field including 5-of-10 (50%) from deep and 10-of-12 (83.3%) from the free throw line with 37 rebounds (10 offensive, 27 defensive), 16 assists, 17 turnovers, seven steals and eight blocks.
 
The Hounds went 19-of-55 (29.2%) from the floor including 5-of-18 (27.8%) from behind the arc and a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line with 33 rebounds (13 offensive, 20 defensive), 11 assists, 14 turnovers, 10 steals and no blocks.