Date	Time	Opponent	Location	Venue	Links
Friday, November 1	4:00 p.m.	Black Hills State	Canyon, Texas	First United Bank Center	Stats | FloSports | Game Notes | Tournament Central

CANYON. Texas – The Lady Buffs open up their 2024-25 campaign on Friday afternoon as they battle the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets during the D2CCA Tipoff Classic at the First United Bank Center with tipoff set for 4:00 p.m. in Canyon.
 
ARIZONA RECAP
The Lady Buffs battled for 40 minutes on Friday night as they fell to the Arizona Wildcats, 84-59 at the historic McKale Center in Tucson, Arizona in the final preseason tune-up for WT heading into next week's season opener. Kyla Kane impressed for the Lady Buffs as the Wellington product went 6-of-11 from the floor including 2-of-5 from behind the arc and 2-of-3 from the free throw line for a game-high 16 points to go along with three rebounds and a steal. Grace Alvarez, Randi Harding and Taylor Haggan finished the night with eight points each
 
A LOOK AT THE YELLOW JACKETS
The Yellow Jackets will have a new-look roster in 2024-25 as only six letterwinners return with four experiencing quality playing time. Kalla Bertram, Gracie Haneborg, Morgan Hammerbeck and Haylee Weathersby had combined to play in 335 games with 146 total starts during their careers. 
 
Bertram, a native of Colome, South Dakota, started all 27 games for the Yellow Jackets a year ago, going 92-of-206 (44.7%) from the floor including 27-of-73 (37%) from deep and 52-of-93 (55.9%) from the free throw line to average 9.7 points per game to go along with 138 rebounds, 48 assists, 10 blocks and 61 steals. 
 
Black Hills State took advantage of the transfer portal during the offseason, adding Colorado State guard Taylor Ray as the Highlands Ranch, Colorado product saw time in five games for the Rams in 2023-24. Bradie Schlabs will look to contribute as a true freshman as her standout prep career featured a pair of Wyoming Class 4A State Championships with four All-State honors at Cheyenne East High School, scoring 1,285 career points with 362 steals and 383 assists.
 
The Yellow Jackets went 17-10 overall with a 14-8 mark in RMAC action last season as they advanced to the opening round of the RMAC Championships before falling 83-63 to Adams State in Alamosa.
 
BLACK HILLS STATE HEAD COACH RACHEL ERICKSON
Rachel Erickson is in her first season at the helm of the Yellow Jacket women's basketball program as she was named the seventh head coach at Black Hills State University in April 2024. Erickson returns to her alma mater after a two-year stint at Colorado State University where she spent time as both the Director of Player Development (2022-23) and as an assistant coach (2023-24). Erickson took over at BHSU for Mark Nore who led the Jackets for 22 seasons before stepping into the Director of Athletics role in Spearfish.
 
Prior to Colorado State, she spent two seasons as the head assistant at the University of Sioux Falls. A Cheyenne, Wyoming native helped the Yellow Jackets compile a 69-45 record with two 20-win seasons and a pair of NCAA tournament appearances. 
 
OPENING THE SEASON
Friday afternoon marks the 45th season in the modern statistical era of Lady Buff Basketball as WT is 34-10 all-time during season openers. The Lady Buffs fell to Adams State, 77-64 during last seasons opening contest at the D2CCA Tipoff Classic in Lubbock. WT is 20-3 during that span when they open the season in Canyon.
 
THE SERIES
The Lady Buffs and Yellow Jackets will meet for just the second time on Friday afternoon as WT is 1-0 in the series. The only previous meeting came on March 11, 2016 in Lubbock during the NCAA South Central Regional Semifinals at the Rip Griffin Center.
 
The last meeting saw the Lady Buffs pull away in the second half highlighted by 18 point from Sasha Watson followed by Madison McLain with 11 and Alie Decker with 10 to give West Texas A&M a 63-48 victory. 
 
WT HEAD COACH JOSH PROCK
Josh Prock is now in his fourth 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 279-43 inside of the FUBC during that time for a winning clip of 86.6%. WT has averaged 1,035 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.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
The D2CCA Tipoff Classic will be broadcasted on FloSports. The LSC and FloSports reached a historic agreement in August for the largest streaming rights deal in NCAA Division II history.
 
HOME OF CHAMPIONS
West Texas A&M is home to one of the most successful athletic programs in all of NCAA Division II. The Buffs and Lady Buffs finished third in the 2023-24 Division II LEARFIELD Director's Cup standings. It marked the sixth straight and eighth overall time that WT finished inside of the Top-10 including the fifth straight inside of the Top-5.
 
THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
1913 - Notre Dame upsets Army, 35-13 during the inaugural college football game
 
1924 - The Boston Bruins become the first United States based team to enter the National Hockey League
 
1964 - Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown rushes for 149 yards to become the NFL's first player to exceed 10,000 career rushing yards
 
1966 - Sandy Koufax becomes the first three-time winner of the Cy Young Award
 
1994 - The Chicago Bulls retire Michael Jordan's #23 jersey
 
1999 - Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton passes away at age 45 of Cholangiocarcinoma