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CANYON, Texas – For the fourth and final time this season, the #16 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M will battle the rival #21 Belles of Angelo State in the South Central Regional Semifinals on Saturday night in Canyon with tipoff set for 5 p.m. at the First United Bank Center.
 
WT HEAD COACH KRISTEN MATTIO
Kristen Mattio is now in her fourth season as the head coach of the Lady Buffs, registering an overall record of 112-22 (.836) with four NCAA Tournament appearances including a spot in the Regional Finals each of the three seasons and a South Central Regional Championship in 2016-17. Mattio became the third head coach in program history to reach 100 victories while becoming the second fastest to the milestone in her 122nd career game back on February 2nd in Lawton.
 
WBCA DIVISION II TOP-25 POLL (MAR. 11)
The Lady Buffs remained 16th in the final regular-season edition of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division II Top-25 announced on Monday afternoon by the association's offices in Lilburn, Georgia.
 
Drury picked up all 24 of the possible first place votes to sit atop of the poll with a unanimous total of 600 points followed by UC San Diego (574), Fort Hays State (551), Ashland (478), Northwest Nazarene (462), University of the Sciences (458), Southwestern Oklahoma State (422), Alaska Anchorage (415), Virginia Union (400) and Grand Valley State (378) to round out the top ten. The South Central Region was represented by West Texas A&M (16th), Colorado Mesa (19th), Angelo State (21st) and Lubbock Christian (25th).
 
LADY BUFFS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
The Lady Buffs are making their sixth straight and 25th overall appearance in the NCAA Division II Basketball Postseason in 2018-19 as they are 38-24 all-time in the NCAA Tournament with the 38 wins ranking sixth-most all-time in NCAA Division II and ranks fourth-most among active DII institutions. WT has claimed seven Regional Championships with two appearances in the National Finals since the 1986-87 campaign.
 
In the last six NCAA tournament appearances for WT, the Lady Buffs are 16-5 during the stretch with three South Central Regional Championships and an appearance in the 2014 Division II National Title Game.
 
This weekend will mark the seventh time that the Lady Buffs have hosted the NCAA Postseason with the last coming in 2015, they hold an 12-2 record in Canyon during postseason play with three Regional Titles on their home floor (2009, 2014, 2015).
 
SPLIT REGIONAL FORMAT
Due to West Texas A&M holding the top seed in both the men's and women's South Central Regional rankings, the tournament format has changed slightly from previous years. Both the Buffs and Lady Buffs host the fourth, fifth and eight seeded teams in their respective brackets while the second seed will host the final three participants in a split-regional.
 
The quarterfinal (Friday) and semifinal (Saturday) round will take place at the split sites with the highest remaining seed following Saturday's semifinal round earning the right to host the Regional Finals at their respective home court on Tuesday evening.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
The West Texas A&M Athletic Communications Department will provide live stats and a webstream of this weekend's NCAA Division II Women's South Central Regional Championship at the First United Bank Center in Canyon. For more information or links, visit the Lady Buff Basketball schedule page at GoBuffsGo.com. 
 
WINNING TRADITION
The 2018-19 season marks 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.
 
LONE STAR CONFERENCE POSTSEASON AWARDS
Lexy Hightower became the 11th Lady Buff in program history to become the league's Player of the Year as she joins Chon White, Jamie Simmons, Joni Unruh, Emily Brister, Celeste Stevenson, Brandi Green, Latraica Spencer, Natasha Taylor, Teresa Tinner and Vanessa Wells. Kristen Mattio was tabbed the league's Coach of the Year for the second straight season while becoming the third coach in program history to win the award multiple times joining Krista Gerlich and Bob Schneider.
 
Hightower and Tyesha Taylor were named to the All-LSC First Team while Deleyah Harris picked up Third Team honors, Megan Gamble was tabbed an Honorable Mention selection. Harris also earned All-Defensive accolades while Hightower was named to the All-Academic Team.
 
D2CCA ALL-SOUTH CENTRAL REGION
West Texas A&M's Lexy Hightower and Tyesha Taylor continued to add to their already impressive resumes on Thursday morning as they were named to the Division II Conference Commissioner's Association (D2CCA) All-South Central Region Team. Hightower was named to the First Team as she moves onto the ballot for a chance of becoming an All-American while Taylor earned Second Team accolades.
 
LAST TIME OUT
West Texas A&M's Lexy Hightower drew a foul and hit a pair of free throws with under a second remaining on Friday afternoon as the #16 Lady Buffs fought back from an 11-point deficit to top the rival Greyhounds of Eastern New Mexico and punch their ticket to the semifinal round of the 2019 NCAA Division II South Central Regional Championship at the First United Bank Center in Canyon.
 
The Lady Buffs were led offensively by Lexy Hightower who went 9-of-17 from the floor including 4-of-9 from behind the arc and 3-of-4 from the free throw line with a game-high 25 points followed by Tyesha Taylrow and Abby Spurgin with nine each, Hightower grabbed seven rebounds on the afternoon while Deleyah Harris had five steals and five boards in the win.
 
Shelby Jones and Zamorye Cox led the way for the Hounds with 15 points each followed by Alivia Lewis with 14 and Treyanna Clay with 10, Clay and Jones grabbed eight rebounds each while Cox dished out five assists to go along with a steal in her 37 minutes of action. 
 
WT finished the game going 24-of-60 (40%) from the floor including 8-of-26 (30.8%) from deep and 12-of-19 (63.2%) from the charity stripe with 30 rebounds (11 offensive, 19 defensive), 11 assists, 13 turnovers, two blocks and 10 steals in the win.
 
The Greyhounds went 27-of-55 (49.1%) from the field including 3-of-13 (23.1%) from behind the arc and 10-of-12 (83.3%) from the free throw line with 32 rebounds (10 offensive, 22 defensive), 16 assists, 17 turnovers, no blocks and six steals on the afternoon.