Basketball | 11/11/2022 12:01:00 PM

GUNNISON, Colorado (Nov. 11, 2022) – The start of the 2022-23 Texas Woman's basketball begins this weekend in Colorado. 

TWU will tip-off their season at the conference challenge hosted by Western Colorado. The Pioneers will play two games this weekend. They will take on the host Mountaineers at 7 p.m. CST on Friday night. Then, on Saturday night at 6 p.m. CST, the Pioneers will face MSU - Denver. 

Last season, the Pioneers also started their season off by playing Western Colorado in Kitty Magee Arena. In their matchup, TWU held the Mountaineers to just 10 points in the first half and went on to win 58-42. 

TWU also played MSU-Denver in their second game of the season last year. In KMA on Nov. 13, 2021, the Pioneers defeated the Roadrunners 86-83 in triple overtime. Then, TWU faced MSU-Denver again in the opening round of the South Central NCAA Regional Tournament, defeating them 90-83 in overtime, to win their first NCAA Tournament game in program history. 

In the same fashion as last season, the Pioneers look ahead to kicking off the season against these two strong regional opponents. 

STAY PLUGGED IN 

• WATCH: The Pioneers will be on the road, so make sure to follow along via live stream here.
• LIVE STATS: Want to stay connected with all the stats for TWU - follow along here.   
• Catch all the TWU highlights on Twitter - @TWU_basketball. 

TIP-OFF TIME

• WARM-UP: Last season, Western Colorado finished with a record of 11-16. They ended their season losing in the RMAC Tournament to Colorado School of Mines. The Mountaineers returned six players. Last season, MSU-Denver closed the season 22-9. They returned five from last season's roster and added a few transfers. The Pioneers finished the season 20-9 and returned eight players from last year's roster. 
• FIRST WHISTLE: In their exhibition match against UT Arlington, senior Brielle Woods was the team's top scorer, finishing with 22 points. The Pioneers also returned Lone Star Conference Preseason Player of the Year Ashley Ingram, who averaged 14.5 points per game. At the starting whistle, fans can also expect junior Sadie Moyer, who led the team last season in total points with 410 to make a big impact and senior Ngozie Obineke who grabbed a double-double in the Pioneers exhibition game. 
• KEYS TO THE GAME: Against the Mountaineers last year, the key to the win was defense. The Pioneers won the rebound battle and grabbed seven steals. Additionally, the Pioneers held the Moutnaineers to shooting just 37% from the field, while TWU shot 71% from the field. On Saturday, one major key to defeating MSU-Denver will be persistence, because if last year is any indication - overtime could be expected. The keys towin over the Roadrunners will be crashing the boards and limiting turnovers for TWU.