West Texas A&M (17-9, 11-8) vs. St. Mary's Rattlers (11-13, 7-11 LSC)
Date & Time	Thursday, February 20th at 5:30 p.m.
Location	Canyon, Texas | First United Bank Center
Live Statistics	StatBroadcast
Live Video (Pay Per View)	FloCollege
Other Links	Game Notes

CANYON, Texas – The Lady Buffs return to the friendly confines of the First United Bank Center this week as they close out the regular season with a three-game homestand beginning on Thursday night against the St. Mary's Rattlers with tipoff set for 5:30 p.m. in Canyon.
 
WESTERN NEW MEXICO RECAP
The Lady Buffs picked up a 78-55 Lone Star Conference victory on Saturday in their final regular season road game of the season over the Western New Mexico Mustangs at Drag's Court. Kyla Kane led the way offensively for the Lady Buffs as the junior guard from Wellington went 4-of-8 from the floor including 3-of-4 from deep for a team-best 13 points to go along with five boards, four assists and a steal.
 
A LOOK AT THE RATTLERS
St. Mary's enters the weekend with an overall record of 11-13 with a 7-11 mark in Lone Star Conference action to sit tied for fourth in the East Division standings with St. Edward's. The Rattlers have dropped their last five contests to Texas A&M-Kingsville (57-48), UT Tyler (54-51), Texas Woman's (58-45), Oklahoma Christian (74-71 OT) and Cameron (68-62).
 
Saturday afternoon saw the commit 21 turnovers in San Antonio as they fell to the Cameron Aggies, 68-62. Christin Callens led the way for St. Mary's as the freshman from Houston went 11-of-17 from the floor for a team-high 22 points to go along with three rebounds and one assist. 
 
The Rattlers, picked 13th in the LSC Preseason Poll, finished the 2023-24 campaign with an overall record of 6-22 with a 6-16 mark in league action to miss out on the LSC Championships in Frisco.
 
Callens leads the way offensively for the Rattlers as the Klein Collins High School product has gone 135-of-273 (49.5%) from the floor including 12-of-54 (22.2%) from deep and 67-of-92 (72.8%) from the free throw line to average 14.5 points per game to go along with 138 rebounds, 28 assists, 23 steals and four blocks. She ranks sixth in the LSC in scoring with 14.5 points per game.
 
StMU HEAD COACH VALERIE HUIZAR
Valerie Huizar is in her third season at the helm of the St. Mary's women's basketball program after being named the ninth head coach in program history back in June of 2022. The San Antonio native joined StMU from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette where she served as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator since 2017.
 
THE SERIES
Thursday night marks the 13th all-time meeting on the hardwood between the Lady Buffs and the Rattlers as WT holds the 11-1 advantage in a series that dates back to 2002. The Rattlers are 0-6 all-time at th First United Bank Center with their last trip to Canyon coming in February of 2023.
 
The last meeting saw four Lady Buffs finish in double-figures led by Nyalam Thabach who went 4-of-16 from the floor including 8-of-9 from the free throw line for a team-best 16 points to go along with eigh rebounds. Kyla Kane (12), Karley Motschenbacher (10) and Grace Alvarez (10) also finished in double-figures in a 71-62 victory by the Lady Buffs in San Antonio.
 
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 LSC 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 289-45 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 contest will be broadcasted on FloCollege. 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.
 
LSC NEWS & NOTES (FEB. 17)
The coming week's schedule has all 16 teams with a two-game set against opponents from their opposite division (Feb. 20, 22) before closing February and the regular-season slate with travel partner games (Feb. 27-Mar. 1).
 
UT Tyler claimed at least a share of the LSC East Division title with home schedule-closing wins vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville (Feb. 13) and Texas A&M International (Feb. 15). The Patriots can claim sole possession of the division title with a win vs. Texas Woman's Feb. 27; a TWU win would have the two sharing the East Division crown.  ...  Lubbock Christian secured the LSC West Division title with a pair of wins over the Feb. 6-8 weekend.
 
A three-way tie for the LSC Championship continues with TWU, UT Tyler and LCU each posting 18-1 marks against all conference teams.  ...  Competition for postseason spots make this week's games key to teams staying in the hunt for one of the eight tournament berths and seeds.  ...  Seeding for the eight-team LSC Tournament is based on overall standings (22 games).
 
Six teams posted 2-0 records over the Valentine's Day weekend  ...  West Texas A&M took road wins at Sul Ross State and Western New Mexico to post a four-game win streak for the third time this season.  ...  TWU (19 wins), UT Tyler (15) and LCU (14) each extended winning streaks with weekend sweeps.
 
FACULTY & STAFF APPRECIATION NIGHT
Lady Buff Basketball welcomes selected members of the West Texas A&M Faculty & Staff to be honored during pregame on Thursday night's Lone Star Conference contest against St. Mary's.
 
Hollie Stalder - Katie Sheppard                       
Zoey McBroom - Tiffany Whigham                  
Presley Kane - Patricia McGuire                      
Randi Harding - Marga Gore and Amanda Ryder             
Kyla Kane - Kimberly Dudley               
Lacey Rice - Steven Knadle              
Bella Ringenberg - Lance Baker                     
Grace Alvarez - Gene Farren              
Braylen Lusby – Kati - Gerardina Perez                      
Rosemary Odebunmi - Brandy Carr                
Taylor Haggan - Preston Tirey                        
Gisselle Hernandez - Blake Price                    
Ty Riles - Sedrick Knowlton                
Taytum Bell - Tamara Castagnetta                  
Claire Graham - Kyler Estes                
Sofi Woodson - Kelly Jones                
Caitlyn Holt - Rebecca Weir                
Anna Farrel - Tina Good                      
Gloria Fornah - Trish Brown