West Texas A&M University’s Lady Buffs Basketball team started the preseason with a 93-83 win over the Wayland Baptist University’s Flying Queens on Oct 18.
The game featured strong performances by several new additions to the team. The team’s forward, Taylor Haggan, led the team in scoring with 17 points. She also led the team in steals, taking the ball away from the Flying Queen’s players three separate times. Haggan is a sophomore who transferred from St. Mary’s University in San Antonito after being named their Freshman of the Year last season.
“She plays like her dad,” WT’s Women’s Basketball Head Coach Josh Prock said in a post-game conference. “Her dad played for the Denver Broncos. He played in the NFL for ten years. So she plays like a middle linebacker. She’s tough.”
Team guard Claire Graham, another transfer from Abilene Christian University, also had a noteworthy game. She led the team in three-point throws, completing three out of four and scoring 11 points.
“She’s got a lot of good attributes she brings to the table,” Prock said. “She can really shoot it. She can go off the dribble. Defends really well.”
Freshman guard Taytum Bell also had a big game. She scored 12 points and led the team with six assists. Bell was also responsible for ten rebounds, with 3 of them happening in less than a minute.
“I don’t know if we expected three rebounds in a minute, but we knew she was going to be pretty good,” Prock said, “We knew she was a talented young lady, but the one thing she showed the other day is that her confidence level is high. She really believes in herself, and that’s been fun to watch.”
The game was a team affair. Six players scored over 10 points each, and the whole team was responsible for 21 total assists.
“I haven’t had very many exhibition games, or very many games at that, that we had 21 assists,” Prock said. “You could just tell in the court that these kids really enjoyed playing with each other.”
The Lady Buffs will have one more exhibition game against the University of Arizona Wildcats before their regular season opener on Nov. 1 against the Black Hills State University Yellow Jackets.
