West Texas A&M vs. #1 Grand Valley State
Date	Saturday, November 1st | 1:00 p.m.
Location	St. Joseph, Missouri | Civic Arena
Follow Along	Live Stats
Watch Live	MIAA Network (Pay-Per-View)
Additional Links	Game Notes

CANYON, Texas – The Lady Buffs open their 2025-26 campaign on Saturday afternoon as they battle the defending National Champion and top-ranked Lakers of Grand Valley State during the D2CCA Tipoff Classic at Civic Arena in St. Joseph, Missouri.
 
NEW LOOK LADY BUFFS
The Lady Buffs return nine letterwinners from last year's squad that advanced to the South Central Regional Semifinals. LSC Preseason Player of the Year Kyla Kane highlights a deep roster that features eight seniors. Canyon product Kenadee Winfrey joins the Lady Buffs following a stellar career at UNLV. Returning All-LSC selections Randi Harding and Claire Graham look to continue the storied tradition of Lady Buff Basketball in their final season in Maroon & White.
 
SCOUTING THE LAKERS
GVSU is coming off their second National Championship in program history, going 38-2 in 2024-25, winning 37 of those games by double-digits. They led the nation in bench points per game and scoring margin, while ranking in the top 10 nationally in scoring offense, field goal percentage, assist-to-turnover ratio, assists per game, turnover margin, rebound margin, scoring defense, steals per game, and three-pointers per game. The Lakers won the GLIAC regular season championship for the fourth straight year and then claimed the conference tournament for a third consecutive season.
 
Grand Valley State returns plenty of talent to Allendale this season, led by First-Team All-Conference and GLIAC All-Defensive Team performer Nicole Kamin. The redshirt senior averaged 9.2 points per game and 4.8 rebounds, adding a team-high 101 steals and 91 assists. Also back is starting guard Molly Anderson, who had 79 assists and 39 steals. The Lakers' roster features six freshman newcomers.
 
The Lakers were selected atop of the GLIAC Preseason Coaches' Poll announced on October 21st. Paige Vanstee, the Midwest Regional Tournament MVP, averaged over eight points and four boards in just 16 minutes per game. MacKenzie Bisballe was the league's Freshman of the Year, and a member of the GLIAC All-Defensive Team, was the team's second-leading scorer at 10.3 a game.
 
GVSU HEAD COACH MIKE WILLIAMS
Mike Williams enters his 11th season as the head coach of the Grand Valley State women's basketball team. In his 10 years at the helm of the Laker program, he has amassed a 278-49 (.850) overall record and a 169-27 (.862) record in the GLIAC. He has led the Lakers to five GLIAC regular season titles, three GLIAC Tournament titles, three Midwest Regional titles, and the 2024-25 National Championship.
 
GVSU has won at least one game in the NCAA Division II National Tournament in nine out of 10 seasons since Williams took the reins of the program, posting a record of 22-8 in the NCAA Tournament. In 2023-24, Williams became the program's all-time winningest coach and won the 400th game of his collegiate coaching career.
 
BAYLOR REWIND
The Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M closes out their exhibition schedule last Saturday afternoon as the #13 Baylor Bears claimed a 86-46 victory at Foster Pavillion in Waco, Texas.
 
Kyla Kane led the team with eight points, shooting 4-for-10 from the field, and collected five rebounds. Chloe Callahan matched her with eight points, including two three-pointers, and added two steals. Henley West contributed nine points and secured three rebounds. Kenadee Winfrey chipped in eight points, making all three of her free throw attempts.
 
THE SERIES
Saturday afternoon marks just the third meeting on the hardwood between the Lady Buffs and Lakers in a series that dates back to 1998. The last meeting between the two teams came on December 10, 1999 as the Lady Buffs claimed a 87-63 victory at the WTAMU Fieldhouse "The Box" in Canyon. It will be the second neutral site contest in the series as GVSU picked up a 83-77 win over WT in Orlando on November 20, 1998.
 
WT HEAD COACH JOSH PROCK
Josh Prock is now in his fifth season at the helm of the Lady Buff Basketball program. The Lady Buffs made the program's 29th appearance in the NCAA Division II Postseason during the 2024-25 campaign as they went 19-13 overall with a 12-10 mark in the LSC. The Lady Buffs advanced to the South Central Regional Semifinals.
 
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 290-47 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.
 
LSC PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
West Texas A&M senior guard Kyla Kane was tabbed the Lone Star Conference Preseason Player of the Year announced on Monday, October 20th. The 5-foot-10 native of Wellington, Texas, averaged 13.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. She shot 89.8 percent from the free throw line and made 56 3-pointers. She was a second team all-LSC selection.
 
LSC PRESEASON POLL
The Lady Buffs were selected fourth in the 2025 LSC Preseason Coaches' Poll. Defending Regional Champion Texas Woman's claimed 20 of the possible 51 first place votes to sit atop of the poll with 810 points followed by Lubbock Christian (14 first place, 776), UT Tyler (eight first place, 761), West Texas A&M (six first place, 663) and Eastern New Mexico (two first place, 657) to round out the top five. Angelo State (656) sits sixth followed by Texas A&M-Kingsville (564), UT Permian Basin (466), Midwestern State (461), St. Mary's (438), St. Edward's (363), Oklahoma Christian (310), Cameron (262), Texas A&M International (one first place, 210), UT Dallas (168), Western New Mexico (161) and Sul Ross State (77).
 
RUNNIN' IT BACK
Graduate student Karley Motschenbacher returns to the Lady Buffs for her final season of eligibility in 2025-26 after a season away from the court. The Moorehead, Minnesota product is a three-time All-Lone Star Conference honoree as she has seen time in 95 games with 89 starts for the Lady Buffs, averaging 32.2 minutes per contest. She scored her 1,000th career point back on January 20, 2024 at Eastern New Mexico and is just the 25th player in WT history to score 1,000 points as a Lady Buff.