MARSHALL, Texas – Under seventh-year head coach Blake Arbogast, the East Texas Baptist University women's basketball program opens their 2026-27 season on Nov. 6-7, hosting the Tip Off Classic in Ornelas Gym. ETBU has produced four 20+ win seasons in the past six years and won the American Southwest Conference Tournament Championship in 2025.
 
ETBU is picked to finish second in the ASC with 54 points and has three players on the Watch List: Tristan Smith, Macey Jones, and Aubrey Marjason. Smith started all 25 games last year, averaging 6.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, shooting 42 percent from the floor. Jones was an All-ASC second-team selection, leading ETBU in scoring at 12.1 points per game with 5.0 rebounds per game. Marjason transferred from NCAA Division II Oklahoma Baptist, where she shot over 40 percent from the floor and played in 41 games.
 
Hosting three classics in Ornelas Gym this year, ETBU will have 13 home games starting with the Tip-Off Classic on Nov. 6-7. They will then have the Thanksgiving Classic on Nov. 20-21 and the Christmas Classic on Dec. 29-30. They will take two big trips: to the West Coast to face Whitman College and Pacific University on Nov. 27-28, and to Florida for the Daytona Beach Shootout on Dec. 19-20 against Ohio Northern and La Verne.
 
They start the new season on Nov. 6 at 7:00 p.m. vs. Belhaven University.