Date	Time	Opponent	Location	Venue	Links
Saturday, November 11	5:30 p.m. CT	South Dakota Mines	Grand Junction, Colorado	Brownson Arena	RMAC Network | Live Stats | Game Notes

CANYON, Texas – The Lady Buffs close out the South Central Regional Challenge on Saturday night as they battle the South Dakota Mines Hardrockers in Grand Junction, Colorado with tipoff set for 5:30 p.m. CT at Brownson Arena. 
 
COLORADO MESA RECAP
The Colorado Mesa Mavericks ended the first half on an 11-0 run and never looked back as they picked up a 70-51 victory over the Lady Buffs during the South Central Regional Challenge at Brownson Arena in Grand Junction, Colorado on Friday evening.
 
Nyalam Thabach led the way for the Lady Buffs as the senior from Boise, Idaho went 5-of-14 from the floor including 3-of-5 from the free throw line for a team-high 13 points to go along with 10 rebounds, one assist and four blocks for a double-double. Grace Alvarez finished the night with nine points and three assists while Kyla Kane added seven points.
 
A LOOK AT THE HARDROCKERS
South Dakota Mines enters Saturday with an overall record of 0-1 following a 60-55 loss to UT Permian Basin on Friday afternoon in Grand Junction. Piper Bauer led the way for the Hardrockers as she went 8-of-19 from the field including 4-of-10 from deep for 22 points to go along with one rebound.
 
The Hardrockers finished the 2022-23 campaign with an overall record of 6-22 as they went 6-16 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) action to miss out on the RMAC Championship for the first time since 2018-19.
 
Bauer, a sophomore guard from Gig Harbor, Washington, is the top returning scorer for the Hardrockers as she started all 28 during her true freshman campaign. She finished the season going 142-of-392 (36.2%) from the floor including 94-of-256 (36.7%) from behind the arc and 25-of-31 (80.6%) from the charity stripe to average 14.4 points per game to go along with 112 rebounds (four offensive, 108 defensive), 19 assists, 27 steals and five blocks.
 
SDM HEAD COACH JERI OWSLEY
Jeri Owsley is now in her fifth season at the helm of the South Dakota Mines women's basketball program. She holds an overall record of 40-63 during her three seasons in Rapid City, leading the program to a pair of berths in the RMAC Tournament.
 
She was named the fifth coach in program history on July 29, 2019. Owsley came to Mines following four seasons as an assistant at the University of Idaho. She registered a standout playing career at Central Wyoming College and Upper Iowa. At Upper Iowa, she was named to the NSIC All-Academic Team both years.
 
THE SERIES
Saturday marks the third all-time meeting on the hardwood between West Texas A&M and South Dakota Mines. The Lady Buffs are 2-0 in the series that dates back to 2021. Last year's meeting came in Rapid City as Karley Motschenbacher and Nyalam Thabach scored 19 points each in a 75-67 victory by the Lady Buffs. Saturday marks the first neutral site meeting between the two teams.
 
WT HEAD COACH JOSH PROCK
Josh Prock is now in his third season at the helm of the Lady Buff Basketball program. The Lady Buffs made the program's 28th appearance in the NCAA Division II Postseason during the 2022-23 campaign as they went 21-11 overall including a 14-8 mark in Lone Star Conference action. 
 
Prock was introduced as West Texas A&M's head women's basketball coach on June, 2, 2021. Prock is no stranger to the Lone Star Conference as he spent eight seasons as the head coach at Eastern New Mexico leading the Greyhounds to their only three NCAA Tournament appearances in program history.
 
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 272-37 inside of the FUBC during that time for a winning clip of 87.7%. WT has averaged 1,025 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.
 
LSC BASKETBALL PRESEASON POLL
Defending LSC Tournament Champion Angelo State picked up 15 of the possible 44 first place votes for a total of 652 points to sit atop of the poll followed by Texas Woman's (17 first place, 633), UT Tyler (nine first place, 627), Lubbock Christian (three first place, 606) and West Texas A&M (524) to round out the top five.
 
Texas A&M-Kingsville was tabbed sixth with 492 points followed by St. Edward's (379), Cameron (311), Oklahoma Christian (270), UT Permian Basin (270), Eastern New Mexico (248), Western New Mexico (233), Texas A&M International (225), UAFS (202), Midwestern State (172) and St. Mary's (140).
 
Grace Foster of Lubbock Christian and Sawyer Lloyd of Angelo State were named the 2023-24 Co-Preseason Players of the Year. Foster and Lloyd headline a list of 16 LSC Players to Watch in the 2023-24 season.
 
LSC women's basketball teams open their 2023-24 schedules in tournament or single-game play during early November weekends. Nine teams start seasons at D2CCA or Canadian Tipoff Classics beginning November 3, three teams play in South Central Region Challenges November 10, and another hosts a tournament November 10. The new season for three remaining LSC women's teams starts with single games in one of the two weekends. The 42nd Lone Star Conference women's basketball championship tournament is scheduled March 7-10, 2024, played at the Comerica Center.
 
HOME OF CHAMPIONS
West Texas A&M is home to one of the most successful athletic programs in all of Division II.
 
For just second consecutive season, the Buffs and Lady Buffs finished second in the Division II LEARFIELD Director's Cup standings. It marked the fifth straight and seventh overall time that WT has finished inside of the Top-10 including the fourth straight inside of the Top-5.