Skip to main content

Joni Taylor Signs Her First Aggie Recruit

The new Aggies’ women’s coach went back to her old stomping grounds to pull a player out of the transfer portal

Tineya Hylton is the first signee of the Joni Taylor era at Texas A&M as the new Aggies head coach pulled a former Georgia player, where she was head coach a month ago.

It took Taylor a month pull her first recruit after being hired to replace Gary Blair, who retired after the season.

Hylton, a Toronto, Ontario, Canada, native, played sparingly last season for the Bulldogs, as the 5-7 guard played in eight games. Her season high was nine points against LSU on Feb. 10. 

Joni Taylor
Joni Taylor
Joni Taylor

Hylton was only eligible to play for the Bulldogs in the spring, as she reclassified from the Class of 2021 to the Class of 2022.

Hylton is seen as a point guard who can create offense for herself and for others.

While the Aggies’ 2022-23 roster isn’t live yet, Taylor has worked to put together her staff and has leaned heavily on her former staff at Georgia. She hired Chelsea Newton, her former assistant, as her associate head coach. Robert Mosely also joins the staff as an assistant coach.

The Aggies lost three of their top four leading scorers to eligibility and the WNBA — guard Kayla Wells (16.0 points), guard Qadashah Hoppie (10.4 points) and forward Destiny Pitts (10.4 points).

The Aggies have lost just one player to the transfer portal, freshman guard Keslynn Oxendine.

That leaves Taylor with three full- or part-time starters for next season. Junior guard Jordan Nixon averaged 10 points and led the team with 119 assists. Junior center Sydnee Roby started half of last season’s games and averaged 6.0 points and 4.1 rebounds.

Aaliyah Patty is the wildcard. The forward averaged 6.4 points and 7.4 rebounds last season. She appears to have a year of eligibility left due to COVID-19, but it’s not clear if she’s made a decision to come back.

Joni Taylor
Joni Taylor
Joni Taylor

After that, Taylor has a wealth of players that Blair recruited, signed and developed, to varying degrees, that all have eligibility remaining.

The only other junior is guard McKinzie Green. From there, the Aggies have four sophomores — guard Kay Kay Green, forwards Sahara Jones and Maliyah Johnson, and center Kenyal Perry, who at 6-6 would be next season’s tallest player. Two freshmen are on the roster — forwards Eriny Kindred and Jada Malone.

Taylor also has Blair’s three incoming recruits, all guards — Gia Cooke, Mya Petticord and Brianna McDaniel.


Want to join in on the discussion? Click here to become a member of the All Aggies message board community today!

Follow AllAggies.com on Facebook and Twitter!

Want More Aggies News? Check Out The Latest In Texas A&M News Here

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.