West Texas A&M (1-1) vs. #21 Colorado Mesa (3-0)
Date	Friday, November 14 | 2:00 p.m.
Location	Canyon, Texas | First United Bank Center
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Additional Links	Game Notes

CANYON, Texas – The Lady Buffs begin their 2025-26 home schedule on Friday afternoon as they host the #21 Mavericks of Colorado Mesa in a South Central Regional showdown with tipoff set for 2:00 p.m. at the First United Bank Center in Canyon.
 
NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE REWIND
West Texas A&M's Taylor Haggan registered her 13th career double-double as the Lady Buffs closed out the D2CCA Tipoff Classic with a 67-51 victory over the Bearcats of Northwest Missouri State. Haggan led the team with 16 points and secured 12 rebounds, while also contributing two steals. Kyla Kane added eight points, converting all six of her free throws and collecting seven rebounds. Kane was named to the D2CCA Tipoff Classic All-Tournament team for her efforts on the court.
 
SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS
The Mavericks have high hopes entering the 2025-26 campaign as they welcome back one of the top post players in all of NCAA Division II Basketball. Olivia Reed, a senior forward from Windsor, Colorado, is second all-time in scoring (1,650) for the Mavericks while looking to become just the second player in program history with 2,000 career points. Reed has grabbed 1,016 career rebounds to sit third in CMU history. 
 
Freshman Hallie Clark was named the Alaska Gatorade Player of the Year after averaging 25.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 2.8 rebounds per game as a senior at Wasilla High School. Sheridan Liggett joins the Mavericks after spending three seasons at Seattle University. The Mapleton, Utah native played in every game her freshman and redshirt sophomore seasons, averaging 19 minutes and 4.1 points per game a season ago.
 
The Mavericks opened their 2025-26 season with an unbeaten performance at the D2CCA Tipoff Classic in Langley, British Columbia. CMU topped Western Washington (65-62) in the opener followed by a 61-54 road win at Simon Fraser before ending the tournament with a 65-40 win over Saint Martin's.
 
CMU HEAD COACH TAYLOR WAGNER
Taylor Wagner is now in his 14th season at the helm of the Colorado Mesa women's basketball program. He holds an overall mark of 297-90 during his time in Grand Junction as he has led the Mavericks to eight NCAA Tournament Trips (2013, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024) and four RMAC Tournament Titles (2013, 2014, 2019, 2020).
 
Wagner was named the 11th head women's basketball coach at Colorado Mesa University before the 2012-2013 season. He came to Grand Junction following eight seasons at Otero Junior College, posting an overall record of 187-63 with three trips to the Region IX Title Game including a Regional Title in 2012. Wagner registered a standout playing career at Otero Junior College and Alaska-Anchorage where he was a two-time Defensive Player of the Year for the Seawolves.
 
THE SERIES
Friday marks the 11th all-time meeting between West Texas A&M and Colorado Mesa on the hardwood, WT is 8-2 in the series that dates back to 1994. The Lady Buffs are 4-1 against the Mavericks in Canyon including 2-1 at the First United Bank Center. CMU's last trip to Canyon came on March 11, 2022 for the NCAA South Central Regionals as WT claimed a 70-64 victory in the quarterfinal round on their way to the NCAA Elite Eight.
 
The last meeting between the two took place on November 8, 2024 in Odessa. West Texas A&M led by as many as 17 points in the fourth quarter before a late comeback by Colorado Mesa fell just short as the Lady Buffs picked up a thrilling 80-78 victory. Kane led the way for the Lady Buffs as the Wellington product went 8-of-16 from the floor including 3-of-6 from deep for a team-high 21 points to go along with two boards and a steal. Taytum Bell impressed for WT, going 5-of-8 from the field and 7-of-9 from the line for a season-high 17 points with nine rebounds to finish just shy of a double-double.
 
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.