#8 West Texas A&M (11-1, 3-0) vs. Western New Mexico (0-9, 0-3)
Date	Friday, January 2 | 6:00 p.m. CT
Location	Silver City, New Mexico | Drag's Court
Follow Along	Live Stats
Watch Live	FloCollege (Pay-Per-View)
Additional Links	Game Notes

CANYON, Texas – The #8 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M jump back into Lone Star Conference action on Friday night as they make the long road trip to Silver City, New Mexico to take on the Western New Mexico Mustangs with tipoff set for 6:00 p.m. CT at Drag's Court.
 
HAWAII PACIFIC REWIND
The then #9 Lady Buffs closed 2025 with a dominant 64-30 victory over the Hawaii Pacific Sharks to conclude the Hoops in Hawaii Classic at The Shark Tank in Honolulu, Hawaii. Taylor Haggan recorded a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds, including five on the offensive end. Henley West scored 14 points while converting 7 of 8 field goal attempts and added two blocks. Claire Graham contributed defensively with two steals and scored six points, hitting both of her 3-point attempts. Chloe Callahan added eight points and collected four rebounds.
 
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
Western New Mexico enters 2026 with an overall record of 0-9 including a 0-3 mark in Lone Star Conference action. Friday night will be just the third home game so far this season for the Mustangs as they have suffered losses inside of Drag's Court to New Mexico Highlands and UT Dallas.
 
The Mustangs suffered a 76-44 loss to UT Dallas back on December 20th in LSC action. The Comets had five players score in double-figures while WNMU struggled from the floor shooting just 24.6% (15-of-61). Natalie Magallanes led the Mustangs with nine points as the Midland, Texas product went 3-of-12 from the floor including 3-of-9 from deep while grabbing four rebounds with two steals and an assist.
 
Jordan Sapien leads the way offensively for the Mustangs as the freshman guard from El Paso has gone 23-of-60 (38.3%) from the floor including 4-of-20 (20%) from behind the arc and 17-of-27 (63%) from the free throw line to average 8.4 points per game to go along with 18 rebounds, 19 assists and five steals.
 
Western New Mexico finished the 2024-25 campaign with an overall record of 4-22 with a record of 4-18 in the LSC.
 
WNMU HEAD COACH BRENDA NICHOLS
Veteran head coach Brenda Nichols is in her second season at the helm of the Western New Mexico women's basketball program. The 2025-26 campaign is the 18th season of collegiate basketball for Nichols who served as the head coach at Sam Houston State from 2006-2018.
 
Nichols claimed 116 victories during her time in Huntsville, leading the Bearkats to the program's first Southland Conference Championship to earn Southland Conference Coach of the Year accolades in 2013.
 
THE SERIES
Friday night marks the 22nd all-time meeting on the hardwood between West Texas A&M and Western New Mexico as the Lady Buffs hold a 19-2 advantage in the series. The Lady Buffs are 8-2 all-time at Drag's Court with their last trip to Silver City coming in 2025.
 
The last meeting saw the Lady Buffs shoot 42.9% (27-of-63) from the floor including 77.8% (14-of-18) from the free throw line on their way to a 75-55 victory in Silver City. Kyla Kane went 4-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from behind the arc to lead WT with 13 points followed by Randi Harding with 12.
 
LSC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
WT's Taylor Haggan averaged 9.5 rebounds – pulling down 10 defensive boards – and had three steals as the Lady Buffs allowed just 27.6 percent shooting in wins over No. 23 Ferris State and Hawaii Pacific. Haggan, who won the league's top weekly defensive award for the second time this season, led a unit that allowed only 30 points in a win over Hawaii Pacific. It was the fewest points allowed by an LSC team this season. Haggan had a double double of 13 points and 12 boards (tying a season-high) with a block in just 21 minutes that game.
 
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 reached the 300 career victory milestone on Thursday, December 4th in a 76-51 victory over Oklahoma Christian at the First United Bank Center in Canyon.
 
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 294-47 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).
 
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.