CANYON, Texas – The #6 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M make their 33rd straight appearance in the Lone Star Conference Championships this weekend as they take on the St. Mary's Rattlers on Friday afternoon with tipoff set for 2:30 p.m. in the quarterfinal round at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.
UT PERMIAN BASIN REWIND
West Texas A&M closed out the regular season with another home victory on Saturday afternoon as four different Lady Buffs finished in double-figures in a 73-66 Lone Star Conference win over the UT Permian Basin Falcons at the First United Bank Center on Senior Day.
Randi Harding scored 18 points, making 6 of 11 field goals and 3 of 5 from beyond the arc while adding two steals.
Claire Graham contributed 12 points and made 6 of 8 free throws, also dishing out three assists.
SCOUTING THE RATTLERS
St. Mary's enters the LSC Championship with an overall record of 16-10 as they went 11-9 in league action to finish seventh in the standings. The Rattlers are making their second ever appearance in the LSC Championships with the only other trip coming in 2020 when they advanced to the semifinal round before falling to East Texas A&M, 70-60.
Saturday afternoon saw the Rattlers shoot 35.6% (21-of-59) from the floor including 31% (9-of-29) from behind the arc on their way to a 64-62 win over the Cameron Aggies in Lawton. St. Mary's forced 14 Cameron turnovers while outscoring the Aggies 22-14 in the paint. Quezia Bertoni led the way offensively, going 4-of-11 from the floor and 3-of-6 from deep for a game-high 15 points with four boards, one assist and a block.
Allie Garcia has been the go-to offensive weapon for the Rattlers this season as the junior guard from Australia has gone 104-of-240 (43.3%) from the field including 40-of-128 (31.3%) from deep and 24-of-31 (77.4%) from the stripe to average 10.5 points per game to go along with 75 rebounds, 26 assists, 17 steals and eight blocks. Garcia scored a season-best 21 points against Western Colorado and Angelo State.
StMU HEAD COACH VALERIE HUIZAR
Valerie Huizar is in her fourth 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
Friday marks the 15th all-time meeting on the hardwood between the Lady Buffs and the Rattlers as WT holds the 12-2 advantage in a series that dates back to 2002. It will be the third postseason meeting between the two teams and the first in the Lone Star Conference Championships, the previous two postseason matchups came in the NCAA Tournament (2010, 2014).
The two teams met in Canyon back on January 10th as the Lady Buffs outscored the Rattlers 46-29 in the second half on their way to a 80-62 victory at the First United Bank Center. Four different Lady Buffs finished in double-figures led by
Taylor Haggan who went 8-of-14 against her former team with a game-high 16 points to go along with seven rebounds, one assist and three steals.
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.
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 three NCAA Tournament appearances.
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 301-49 inside of the FUBC during that time for a winning clip of 86.3%. 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.
NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS
The Lady Buffs remained second in the second ranked edition of the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball South Central Regional Rankings announced on Wednesday afternoon.
Texas Woman's remained atop of the regional rankings followed by West Texas A&M, Colorado Mesa, Lubbock Christian, Adams State, UCCS, UT Tyler, Eastern New Mexico, Western Colorado and Angelo State.
The 2026 Division II bracket is announced Sunday, March 8 via an NCAA.com online selection show. The South Central Regional Championships will take place on March 13-16 followed by the NCAA Division II Elite Eight beginning on Monday, March 24th at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
LADY BUFFS IN THE LSC CHAMPIONSHIP
The Lady Buffs are in the Lone Star Conference Championship for the 33rd straight campaign and the 38th overall time which is the most of any LSC institutions. WT is 61-21 all-time at the LSC Championship for a winning percentage of 74.4%. The Lady Buffs have made 23 appearances in the Title Game with 16 Championships since 1987.
LONE STAR CONFERENCE AWARDS
West Texas A&M had five different student-athletes recognized by the Lone Star Conference on Wednesday evening during the league's annual postseason awards banquet held in Frisco, Texas prior to the start of the LSC Championships.
Kyla Kane was named to the All-LSC First Team while
Taylor Haggan and
Randi Harding earned Second Team accolades.
Karley Motschenbacher was selected to the Third Team along with the All-Defensive Team.
Henley West picked up Honorable Mention All-LSC honors along with a spot on the All-Freshman Team.
LSC ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
Junior post
Taylor Haggan was honored for her efforts in the classroom, being named to the 2026 Lone Star Conference Women's Basketball All-Academic Team announced on Wednesday night.
Haggan holds a 3.94 GPA in General Business. The Parker, Texas product has started all 29 games this season for the Lady Buffs, going 127-of-227 (55.9%) from the floor to average 10.3 points per game with 177 rebounds, 32 assists, 10 blocks and 28 steals.
WBCA DIVISION II TOP-25 POLL
The Lady Buffs jumped one spot to sixth in this week's edition of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division II Top-25 Poll announced on Tuesday afternoon.
Texas Woman's claimed 17 of the possible 23 first place votes to sit atop of the poll with 566 points followed by Grand Valley State (two first place, 548), Minnesota State (three first place, 533), Colorado Mesa (one first place, 513), Gannon (484), West Texas A&M (454), Cal Poly Pomona (424), Columbus State (382), Bentley (358) and Indiana, Pa. (353) to round out the top ten.
The South Central Region was represented by Texas Woman's (1st), Colorado Mesa (4th) and West Texas A&M (6th).
LSC NEWS & NOTES (MARCH 2)
The Lone Star Conference women's basketball regular season is complete, and for the fourth straight year, Texas Woman's is the regular season champion. The Pioneers (26-1 overall) finished the conference slate with a perfect 20-0 record. No. 1-ranked TWU enters the LSC tournament as the top seed and on a 25-game winning streak.
Joining TWU at the LSC tournament at Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas is No. 7 West Texas A&M, UT Tyler, Lubbock Christian, Eastern New Mexico, Angelo State, St. Mary's and UT Permian Basin. Action begins Friday (March 6). Tickets are now on sale.
