Kingsville - Riding a home exhibition win and a reloaded roster, the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball team is hitting the road to take on No.21 Colorado Mesa (Friday, 5:00 p.m.) and Westminster (Saturday, 2:00 p.m.) in Salt Lake City, Utah in the first regular season games of its season.
TAMUK's roster is full of youth and new faces, with 11 new Javelinas preparing to play the first regular-season game of their Kingsville career. Anchored by key returners, the team will look to ride momentum from a historic finish to its 2025-26 season, which saw it reach the Lone Star Conference Tournament Semifinals for the first time in nearly a decade.
The Javelinas will certainly have a worthy challenge in front of them to begin their season, with a top-25 team waiting for them in Salt Lake City. Unlike TAMUK, the CMU has already played five games, winning four of them. While Kingsville is very familiar with the Griffins, having played them twice - winning both matchups - last season, the team has faced off with Colorado Mesa just one time before, taking a neutral-site win over the Mavericks. Outside of last season's back-to-back wins over the Griffins, Westminster and Kingsville have never played each other.
Scouting the Competition: The Colorado Mesa Mavericks
After a fantastic season last year, the Mavericks are off to another strong start, taking a 4-1 record into the Westminster Classic. After three straight wins to open their season at the D2CCA Tip-Off Classic, the Mavericks split a pair of games against LSC opponents when they played in the D2 Conference Challenge last weekend. They took a 15-point loss to West Texas A&M in Canyon before taking down UT-Permian Basin by eight in overtime in Odessa.
A guard-forward pair lead Mesa early in the season, with redshirt sophomore guard Mason Rowland pacing the team at 16.6 points per game, having scored in double figures in each of the team's five games so far this year. Senior forward Olivia Reed Thyne makes up the other half of the duo - she is averaging a double-double through five games, and has already posted a 17-point, 20-rebound game in a win over Saint Martin's.
Scouting the Competition: The Westminster Griffins
The Griffins have started the season 0-2, but return home to host the Westminster Classic, at which they will play two games in as many days. They will face Kingsville after a tight turnaround, which will see each team play in its second game in less than 24 hours.
Kingsville faced Westminster in a similar situation last season, as the teams played against each other twice in as many days, with the Javelinas taking a win in each matchup. They needed a game-winning layup late in the first game before running away with a 24-point win the next day.
Senior guard Teuila Nawahine has had a strong start to the year for the Griffins. She leads a pair of griffins who average double figures in the scoring department and three who average at least seven rebounds a game. She is also coming off of a 27-point, eight-assist, seven-rebound in a loss to Concordia Irvine.
Both of Kingsville's games this weekend will be streamed live on the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Network.
