West Texas A&M’s Cade Engle hustles down the line to score a run during the Buffs 9-3 win Sunday against Oklahoma Baptist at Wilder Park. [Trevor Fleeman/ Press Pass Sports]
Editors note: This is a weekly recap for all West Texas A&M spring sports.
Women’s basketball
No. 8 Lady Buffs complete sweep of Angelo State
The West Texas A&M Lady Buffs have now won 10 straight games after completing a two-game sweep of the Angelo State Rambelles with a 67-60 win at the Junell Center in San Angelo on Saturday.
WT hammered ASU in the first meeting 79-36 at home Thursday, before Saturday’s victory. Senior guard Lexy Hightower had a team-high 15 points, followed by Abby Spurgin’s 13. Spurgin was one rebound shy of a double-double with nine rebounds.
WT improves to 12-1 overall and 11-1 in the Lone Star Conference. Struggling ASU falls to 1-9, 1-9.
The Lady Buffs continue LSC play when they face LSC foe Texas Woman’s at 5 p.m. Monday and Tuesday night at the First United Bank Center.
Men’s basketball
Buffs hit century mark again in blowout win of Angelo State
For the second time in three days the West Texas A&M men’s basketball team went over the century mark, rolling over Angelo State in dominating fashion 107-77 in a Lone Star Conference matchup at the Junell Center in San Angelo on Saturday.
The No. 5-ranked Buffs improve to 7-1 on the season, and 5-1 in conference play. It’s also WT’s 12th straight win against the Rams. The Buffs have now gone over the 100-point mark in four of its eight games this season, including both meetings with ASU. WT downed the Rams 102-81 on Thursday night in Canyon.
Guard Zach Toussaint led the Buffs scoring a career-high 20 points. The sophomore was lights out from downtown going 6-of-10 from beyond the arc in 31 minutes of action.Jon’il Fugett also had 20 points with three rebounds and three assists. Qua Grant recorded his 13th double-double of his career with 19 points and 14 rebounds, while JoJo Murray chipped in 19 points, nine rebounds and four steals.
The Buffs return to the floor to face Western New Mexico in a nonconference matchup at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at the First United Bank Center.
Baseball
WT baseball takes weekend series from Oklahoma Baptist
West Texas A&M made it a successful opening weekend to kickoff the season as they took the three out of four games from Oklahoma Baptist during the Bob Sloan Baseball Classic at Wilder Park in Canyon.
WT clinched the series with a 9-3 lead in Saturday’s finale behind strong pitching and stellar hitting. The No. 22-ranked Buffs open the year at 3-1 overall, while OBU falls to 1-3. In Sunday’s game Pampa graduate and WT senior Cade Engle did the damage in the box going 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Engle was 6-for-15 at the dish in the series driving in five runs. WT also picked up strong pitching behind opening day starter Zach Dixon. During a 4-0 victory Thursday, Dixon (1-0) went five innings, allowing only three hits with four strikeouts. In Sunday’s win, starter Chandler Dean worked seven efficient innings, giving up only two runs, tallying six K’s.
The Buffs open Lone Star Conference play when they host rival Eastern New Mexico with the first of a three-game series beginning at 3 p.m. Friday.
Softball
Lady Buff softball goes unbeaten at LCU Invitational
The West Texas A&M softball team couldn’t have asked for a better start to the year going 4-0 at the Lubbock Christian Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
On Friday, the Lady Buffs downed Newman 9-2, and Fort Hays State, 4-1. On Saturday, WT beat Nebraska-Kearney 9-4 then held off Washburn 3-2 to complete the unbeaten weekend.
Canyon graduate and WT sophomore pitcher Kyra Lair was outstanding in the circle. Lair earned three wins over the weekend, and threw two complete games. The hard-throwing right-hander tallied 15 innings of work, gave up just 10 hits with a total of 16 strikeouts and three earned runs. Freshman and Bushland graduate Halle Lytal (1-0) was also impressive in her season debut, throwing five scoreless innings in relief in two appearance with eight strikeouts.
At the plate, catcher Shanna McBroom was 5-for-15 in the series with a pair of RBIs and a home run.
The Lady Buffs open their home schedule with Oklahoma Panhandle State at 1 p.m. next Sunday at Schaeffer Park.
Track and Field
WT track teams impress at Grizzly Open
Both the West Texas A&M men and women’s track teams had strong showings at the Grizzly Open at Adams State University.
On the men’s side, the No. 1-ranked Buffs were led by Ray Dixon, who won the weight throw and the distance medley relay.
Dixon continued to write his name all over the weight throw record book as he won the event with the sixth-best mark of all-time, 55-8.25 (16.97m). The junior also finished third in the shot put with a personal best throw of 52-7.5 (16.04m). Arnaud Taki, Malick Diop, Amarillo High graduate Butare Rugenerwa and Ezekiel Kipchirchir now rank fourth in the nation in the distance medley relay after finishing second in 10:19.31. With the race taking place at 7,543 feet at the ASU High Altitude Training Center, the time converts to 9:53.16 and is a provisional qualifier.
In women’s action, the No. 5-ranked Lady Buffs distance medley relay picked up a provisional mark in a race that featured some of the top runners in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
Eleonora Curtabbi, Luisa Neumann, Nyia Sena and Florance Uwajneza ran the third-fastest DMR in program history, 12:16.66. With the race taking place at 7,543 feet, their time converts to 11:47.49 and is the second-fastest time in the nation this season.
Laiten Greeson had a strong day including a personal best in the 60-meter hurdles. The sophomore ran 9.07 in the final to finish second after running 9.18 in the prelims. She also
Both the Buffs and Lady Buffs will compete at the Ichabod Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 13, in Topeka, Kan.
Volleyball
WT volleyball falls to Angelo State
West Texas A&M gave Angelo State everything they wanted on Tuesday and Wednesday, however, came up just short falling in both matches at the Junell Center in San Angelo.
The No. 15-ranked Rambelles won Tuesday night’s match in four-sets (25-22, 11-25, 21-25, 23-25), followed by a thrilling five-set victory against the Lady Buffs on Wednesday State (21-25, 25-23, 20-25, 25-23, 10-15).
Despite the losses, WT senior and Hereford graduate Chandler Vogel moved into fifth all-time on the program’s digs list. Vogel is now at 1,883 digs for her career passing All-American Shannon Stroud (1999-2002/ 1,861 digs). Torrey Miller was the leader for WT in both games totaling 32 kills and 32 digs.
The Lady Buffs (1-3 overall, 1-3 LSC) return home to face Lone Star Conference rival UT Permian Basin at 6 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday night.