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CANYON, Texas – The #16 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M conclude Lone Star Conference divisional action on Saturday afternoon as they head to San Angelo, Texas to take on the rival Belles of Angelo State with tipoff scheduled for 2 p.m. at Stephens Arena inside of the Junell Center. A victory in San Angelo would clinch WT's 19
th LSC Championship.
ANGELO STATE
Nate Harris is in his first season at the helm of the Angelo State Women's Basketball program after serving as the top assistant for the Belles for two seasons. Harris came to San Angelo following four seasons as an assistant at Montana State, leading the Bobcats to back-to-back Big Sky Titles.
ASU enters the weekend with an overall record of 12-7 with a 9-6 mark in Lone Star Conference action following a Thursday night loss to Eastern New Mexico, 84-60 at the Junell Center in San Angelo. The Belles ended their 2018-19 campaign with an overall record of 26-6 as they claimed a share of the LSC Regular Season Championship, advancing to the South Central Regional Title Game before falling to eventual National Champion LCU.
Senior De'Anira Moore leads the way for the Belles as the Allen product has gone 104-of-202 from the floor including 102-of-139 from the free throw line to average 17.3 points and 8.1 rebounds per game so far this season.
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 132-27 during her time in Canyon for a winning percentage of 83.0% 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 2019-20 season marks the eighth-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 29 seasons during that span with a string of nine-straight from 1983-1992.
WBCA DIVISION II TOP-25 POLL (FEB. 5)
Drury remained atop of the poll with 20 of the possible 23 first place votes for a total of 572 points followed by Ashland (three first place, 555), Grand Valley State (514), Texas A&M-Commerce (511), Indiana, Pa. (467), Lee (453), Hawaii Pacific (437), Alaska Anchorage (400), Lubbock Christian (343) and Adelphi (328) to round out the top ten.
The South Central Region was represented by Texas A&M-Commerce (4th), Lubbock Christian (9th), West Texas A&M (16th), Colorado Mesa (21st) and Westminster (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 228-32 inside of the FUBC during that time for a winning clip of 87.7%.
WT has averaged 1,066 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.
MOVING ON UP
Senior guard
Megan Gamble has been making her way up the career assists list at WT as the Omaha product now sits fifth all-time with 397 for an average of 4.5 per game. She currrently sits just 78 assists behind
Sasha Watson (2013-17) who sits fourth with 475.
DEFENSIVE PRESSURE
The Lady Buffs have allowed an average of 50.5 points per game this season which leads the Lone Star Conference and enters the week ranking fifth in all of Division II Women's Basketball. WT allowed a season-low 26 points to Adams State on November 29th in Canyon, becoming the sixth lowest opponent point total in program history. WT has also held an opponent scoreless in a quarter on two different occasions this season. The Lady Buffs enter the weekend leading the country in blocked shots with 152 for an average of 6.3 which ranks second.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME FINALIST
West Texas A&M's all-time winningest head women's basketball coach Bob Schneider has been tabbed a finalist for the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame for the second straight year.
In 43 seasons as a head coach at Darrouzett High School, McLean High School, Canyon High School, Texas Woman's University and West Texas A&M, Schneider racked up an incredible 1,045 wins. His greatest success came in the Canyon community where he led the CHS Lady Eagles to five State Championships and delivered nine Lone Star Conference Championships at the helm of the Lady Buffs.
Schneider was a six-time recipient of the Lone Star Conference Coach of Year Award during his time in Canyon as he finished his 25-year career at WT with an overall record of 585-163 (.784) including an incredible 237-47 (.836) mark in league action. He led the Lady Buffs to nine Lone Star Conference Championships, eight LSC Tournament Titles and three Regional Championships. Schneider coached nine All-American honorees during his time in Canyon.
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.
LAST TIME OUT
The #16 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M snapped a 12-game win streak on Thursday night as the #9 Lubbock Christian Lady Chaps ran their home win-streak to an NCAA-leading 75 contests with a 67-43 victory in front of over 1,300 fans at the Rip Griffin Center in Lubbock, Texas during Lone Star Conference action.
The Lady Buffs were led by
Abby Spurgin who went 8-of-15 from the floor including 2-of-4 from the charity stripe as the junior finished the night with 18 points to go along with six rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
Braylyn Dollar followed with 11 points to go along with five boards while
Megan Gamble moved into fifth on WT's all-time assists list (397) with five on the night.
Lubbock Christian was led by Allie Schulte who went 8-of-12 from the floor including 1-of-1 from behind the arc for a team-high 17 points to go along with two rebounds, four assists and five steals. Caitlyn Cunyus finished the night with 14 points followed by Ashton Duncan with 12.
WT finished the game going 17-of-45 (37.8%) from the field including 1-of-9 (11.1%) from deep and 8-of-13 (61.5%) from the charity stripe with 27 rebounds (eight offensive, 19 defensive), 12 assists, 18 turnovers, six steals and three blocks.
The Lady Chaps went 27-of-51 (52.9%) from the floor in the game including 6-of-13 (46.2%) from behind the arc and 7-of-9 (77.8%) from the free throw line with 23 rebounds (four offensive, 19 defensive), 14 assists, nine turnovers, 10 steals and two blocks in the win.
