CANYON, TEXAS – No. 20 West Texas A&M Women's Basketball are set to open their 2026-27 campaign this weekend as they host the D2CCA Tipoff Classic at the First United Bank Center (FUBC). WT will take on Southern Arkansas on Friday, October 30 before taking on No. 19 Tampa on Saturday, October 31. Friday's game will tipoff at 4:30 p.m. while Saturday's game is set for 6:45 p.m.
 
D2CCA Tipoff Classic Information
West Texas A&M will welcome seven other teams to the First United Bank Center this weekend for eight games over the two-day event. Teams competing include No. 6 Texas Woman's, No. 19 Tampa, No. 20 West Texas A&M, Angelo State, MSU Denver, New Mexico Highlands, Northeastern State, and Southern Arkansas.
 
All games will be streamed on Flo Sports with Live Stats being provided by WT for every game. The weekend schedule is as follows:
 
Friday, October 30^th
Noon - MSU Denver vs. No. 6 Texas Woman's (Live Stats, Stream)
2:15 p.m. - New Mexico Highlands vs. Angelo State (Live Stats, Stream)
4:30 p.m. - Southern Arkansas vs. No. 20 West Texas A&M (Live Stats, Stream)
6:45 p.m. - Northeastern State vs. No. 19 Tampa (Live Stats, Stream)
 
 Saturday, October 31st
Noon - Angelo State vs. MSU Denver (Live Stats, Stream)
2:15 p.m. – No. 6 Texas Woman's vs. Southern Arkansas (Live Stats, Stream)
4:30 p.m. - New Mexico Highlands vs. Northeastern State (Live Stats, Stream)
6:45 p.m. – No. 19 Tampa vs. No. 20 West Texas A&M (Live Stats, Stream)
 
Ticketing Information
Tickets will be available for both days with day passes and session passes. Sessions 1 and 3 will be the first two games of each day while sessions 2 and 4 will be the last two games of each day.
 
All tickets can be purchased below:
 
Day 1 Pass
Day 2 Pass
Session 1 Pass
Session 2 Pass
Session 3 Pass
Session 4 Pass
 
LSC Preseason Poll
The Lady Buffs come into this season projected to finish second in the Lone Star Conference (LSC) Preseason Poll while being ranked No. 20 in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Preseason Poll.
 
2026-27 LSC Preseason Poll
1. Texas Woman's (828 points, 31 first place votes)          
2. West Texas A&M (794 points, 10 first place votes)
3. UT Tyler (755 points, nine first place votes)
4. Lubbock Christian (743 points)
5. Eastern New Mexico (644 points, one first place votes)
6. Angelo State (594 points)
7. St. Mary's (540 points)
8. UT Dallas (491 points)
9. UT Permian Basin (484 points)
10. St. Edward's (384 points)
11. Texas A&M International (322 points)
12. Oklahoma Christian (301 points)
13. Midwestern State (283 points)
14. Texas A&M-Kingsville (278 points)
15. Cameron (167 point)
16. Western New Mexico (109 point)
17. Sul Ross State (86 point)
 
West Texas A&M is coming off a 2025-26 season where they produced a 28-5 record headlined by a 19-game winning streak. The Lady Buffs finished second in the conference standings and reached the LSC Tournament Championship. WT would go dancing to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season but were defeated in the opening round against UT Tyler.
 
Head Coach Josh Prock enters his sixth season at the helm of the Lady Buffs ahead of the season. Prock has guided WT to the NCAA Tournament in four of his five seasons with an Elite Eight appearance in 2021-22. He holds a 112-53 record in his tenure with three 20+ win seasons.
 
This year's roster will feature a plethora of new players including LSC Preseason Player of the Year Kerbie Cash. Cash is a junior wing transferring from Midwestern State where she was the conference's Freshman of the Year in 2024-25 while being a two-time All-Conference selection. She was a First Team honoree this past year while being named to the Third Team her freshman year. Last season, the Wylie, Texas native averaged 16.6 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 1.5 assists for the Mustangs to go with 2.4 stocks and nine double-doubles.
 
Returning this year for the Lady Buffs will be Abbi Holder, Anna Ferrel, Taylor Haggan, and Brooklyn Scurry. Haggan leads the bunch as a Second Team All-LSC Selection last year after averaging 10.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.3 stocks while shooting 54.5% from the field. Holder, Ferrel, and Scurry all played key roles off the bench for West Texas A&M last season.
 
Joining Cash as transfers will be Zarai Lewis, Julie Nekolna, Arissa Garcia, Mylasia Smith, Ciara Harris, and Taejhuan Hill. Lewis comes from New Mexico Junior College where she was an All-Conference selection after averaging 8.2 points and shooting 34.2% from three. Nekolna played for Texas Tech last season and saw action in nine games. Garcia appeared in 21 games for Cal Poly in 2025-26 where she averaged 3.2 points, 2.6 boards, and 1.5 assists. Smith averaged 9.7 points on 51.1% from the field as she was an All-Conference Honorable Mention at Trinity Valley Community College. Harris comes from UNC Greensboro where he made 25 appearances and totaled 3.9 points per game. Hill is a two-time All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) selection after earning First Team honors this past year and Second Team her freshman season. This past year, Hill averaged 14.4 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 1.7 stocks on 54% shooting with 11 double-doubles.
 
Rounding out the roster will be freshman Juliet Slater and Ella Brown as well as Natalia Tarango.
 
Series History
Friday's game against Southern Arkansas will be the first ever meeting between the Lady Buffs and Muleriders.
 
Saturday's game against Tampa will be the second game between the programs with the Spartans leading the series 1-0. The teams first played in 2022 where UT came away with a 67-51 win.
 
Scouting Southern Arkansas
The Southern Arkansas University Muleriders will also be opening their season Friday at the FUBC. SAU is coming off a 2025-26 season where they went 12-16 with an 8-14 record in the Great American Conference (GAC). They did not reach the postseason.
 
The Muleriders return their three leading scorers from last season in Blythe Crawley, Hope Bump, and Kennedy Moss. Crawley led the team in scoring with 11.5 points per game to go with 2.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.2 stocks. Bump averaged 9.3 points with 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 stocks while Moss sat at 8.7 points on 41.5% shooting.
 
Scouting Tampa
The University of Tampa Spartans will have played Northeastern State on Friday before taking on the Lady Buffs on Saturday. UT is coming off a 2025-26 season where they went 19-11 with a 14-6 mark in the Sunshine State Conference (SSC). They finished fifth in the standings and reached the postseason before falling to Florida Southern in the first round. The Spartans came into this season projected to finish second in the SSC Preseason Poll while being ranked No. 19 in the WBCA Preseason Poll.
 
Returning for the Spartans will be two of their three leading scorers in Ryan Franklin and Giorgia Palmieri. Franklin averaged 15.9 points and 7.6 rebounds which were both team highs. Palmieri was just under 10 points at 9.9 per game and added 5.2 boards and team-highs of 4.9 assists and 1.3 steals.   
 
For all the latest on West Texas A&M Women's Basketball, stay tuned to gobuffsgo.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.