Aggie Women's Hoops opens 2016 with win over Central Arkansas, 74-49

Texas A&M Women's Basketball started their 2016-2017 season with a 74-49 victory on Sunday night against the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears.

After graduating several key starters from the 2015-2016 season, there were voids to fill on the roster. On Sunday night, sophomore Danni Williams was the player that stepped up to the plate. Williams led the team in points with 25 for the night, including three 3-pointers.

"I think we were just energized from the start," Williams said. "It's the first game. We feed off of each other pretty well. We like playing with each other so that helped us out."

Returning starters Khaalia Hillsman and Anriel Howard also answered the bell against the Sugar Bears. Hillsman led the team in rebounds, earning 11 for the Aggies with Howard trailing just behind her with seven.

Texas A&M was only ranked No. 23 by the USA Today Coaches' Poll prior to the start of the season.

"We have so much doubt coming into the season," Hillsman said.

"We have so many people saying we lost 70 percent of our scoring, but little do they know we have so much scoring that's on the team right now. Just because it wasn't shown last season doesn't mean we don't have it.

"I'm excited to prove people wrong. I think everyone else is excited to prove people wrong. We're gonna play every game with a chip on our shoulder. It's not going to be easy for anybody."

While Sunday night's starters played a majority of the game, it was evident that head coach Gary Blair was testing the waters with the bench.

In the meantime, Blair was confident in what his starters were able to bring to the game.

"We're going to have a lot of games where we're trying to find out who's hot and who's not," Blair said. "Hillsman was probably the most improved player on the court. Man, she's taken up an army down there to try to guard her."

"[Williams] is getting a lot of confidence. She's worked hard all summer and hopefully coming in to her own," Blair added.

The starters were not the only players to impress Blair on Sunday.

In the final two minutes of the game, senior walk-on and former Corps Commander Alyssa Michalke made her season debut. Michalke was fouled and awarded two free-throws moments after entering the game. She earned one point for the team, and the Texas A&M bench went wild.

"How about little Alyssa," Blair said. "She came in and ran a play there, and I think our team was more excited about her one point than anything else that happened in the ball game."

While the team walked away with the win, Blair noted that there was still improvements to be made.

"We ran a lot of stuff that we have to work on," he said, but he added that the "majority of the time [the team] did a pretty good job."

Texas A&M Women's Basketball will host Texas Tech on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Reed Arena.