Here at The Prairie, we believe in constant improvements to our products in order to better serve our audiences. In the sports department, we think that adding a one-stop-shop highlight reel of every sports competition from the week is the best way to fulfill this goal. This will be a weekly update that you can only get on www.theprairienews.com. We hope that this will be not only effective but convenient for Buff Nation to continue to follow our athletes!

Women’s Basketball

The #17 Lady Buffs dropped a heartbreaker 73-71 in overtime at home to Eastern New Mexico on Thursday despite a combined 36 points from sophomore Lexy Hightower and senior Madison Parker. Unfortunately, this is the first time the Lady Buffs have dropped three in a row since the 1980-1981 season. Parker put up a solid performance with 19 points and 11 rebounds, but it was not enough to overcome the 54-rebound performance from ENMU.

The women got back in the win column in Canyon on Saturday with a 58-46 triumph against Western New Mexico as they picked up their 200th win at home in the First United Bank Center. Junior Tiana Parker led WT with seven rebounds while junior Reagan Haynes’ 10 points hit the top of the game leaderboard for the Lady Buffs. Hightower, Parker and sophomore Megan Gamble followed up with eight points each. WT went 76.2% from the free-throw line and had 16 team rebounds. This brings their record to 16-4, with an 8-4 in the Lone Star Conference.

Their next contest will come this Tuesday in Canyon at 5:30 against UT Permian Basin.

Men’s Basketball

The 11th team in the country ousted Eastern New Mexico at home in a Thursday 82-63 contest. In the wake of an 18 point, game-high performance from senior David Chavlovich and 14 point nights from junior Ryan Quaid and senior Jordan Evans. With an overall point total from five Buffs in the double digits and an energy surge following the start of the second half, they took the solid W.

On Saturday in Canyon, they would keep their place in the win column with a convincing 99-55 triumph over Western New Mexico. Sophomore Drew Evans gave a career-high performance with a 23 point night as all 11 Buffs who saw the court contributed to the points tally. Other big scorers included Quaid with 15, J. Evans with 13 and Chavlovich with 12. Important to note were the 51 Buff rebounds and their 48% shot percentage. This win raises the Buffs’ record to 19-2, with a 9-2 LSC record.

They will put this on the line at 7:30 on Tuesday this week against UT Permian Basin in Canyon.

Women’s Indoor Track

On Friday in Lubbock at the 2018 Texas Tech Red & Black Open, sophomore Nele Heinrich highlighted the week when she sent the Lady Buffs into the record books. Heinrich’s 56.31 finish now sits as the brand new 400m dash school record. Teammate Valda Kabia gathered points of her own as the junior snagged a provisional time in the 200m dash with a 24.66 finish. Graduate student Rellie Kaputin maintained her spot as number one in the nation in the triple jump after hitting a 12.93 mark while junior Cheyenne Williams finished fourth in Weight Throw throwing 14.63m, setting a new personal record. Williams also set a PR in the 4×400 relay, accompanied by teammates Heinrich, Kabia, freshman Arlene Crossan and sophomore Madison Thetford, where they claimed the provisional time and event title with a time of 3:48.33.

Men’s Indoor Track

The men were not to be outdone in Lubbock as sophomore Rickie Harvie’s 4: 12.73-mile time won him the event and freshman Quinton Sansing snagged the bronze with a 21.85 in the 200m Dash. Sophomore Cade Halliburton finished with a provisional 16.49m toss in the Hammer Throw and senior Daniel Gyasi got the silver for his provisional 48.06 in the 400m Dash.

Both the Buffs and Lady Buffs can be seen in Lubbock again on Friday and Saturday, competing in the Texas Tech Open at the Sports Performance Center at Texas Tech on February 2-3.