The No. 20 Texas A&M women’s basketball team notched its tenth-straight exhibition win by defeating the defending NAIA-champion Oklahoma City Stars 86-35 Monday night at Reed Arena.
A&M had four players that were in double-figures, along with two freshmen. Junior guard Danni Williams led the team with finishing with 18 points, while Hillsman had 16 points. The
The Stars hung tough halfway through the first period keeping pace, 9-8. But the Aggies went on a 17-0 run to finish the first quarter leading 25-9.
In the second quarter A&M really stepped on the pedal as they pulled away with contributions from Hillsman and Williams. The Aggies went on a 23-6 run to lead 50-19 at the half.
“Tonight was a lot a fun, you know we’ve been going back and a forth for a whole month against each other and to play someone different and to get us on the floor to give us a tune-up for Friday is really exciting. And it’s good to see what this freshman class has, with the new faces, I think we’re really going to be a special team this year,” Williams told 12thMan.com.
In the third quarter the A&M made a lot of substitutions to make sure everyone had gotten minutes on the floor. Several new faces had gotten to see their debuts at Reed Arena, including freshman guard Chennedy Carter who saw a lot of her time come in the second half with 10 minutes, she had six points in the first half while finishing with 15 points, three rebounds, and seven assists. The Aggies controlled the pace as they had 18 points in the quarter leading the Stars 68-27.
In the fourth quarter, the Aggies had 16 points total with contributions thanks to a pair of freshman debuts at Reed Arena: guard Kayla Wells had six points, and forward N’dea Jones had five points. Wells was three from five from the field, while Jones was two from two with a long three.
“I think we worked hard as a unit, I think Coach Starkey did a good job having his kids active. We were doing the little things: getting the steals, and doing the right fundamentals. Overall I am pleased with how we played but, you know we’re going to see a lot tougher competition come Friday night against Houston.” A&M head coach Gary Blair told 12thMan.com.
A&M will tip-off its 2017-18 regular season at Reed Arena on Friday night at 7 p.m. against Houston in the first round of the Preseason WNIT.