The Michigan women’s basketball team spent its Thanksgiving break like most students wish they could have.

The Wolverines traveled to Mexico to participate in the Cancun Thanksgiving Classic. But despite the 80-degree sun, Michigan could only heat up the court in one of its two games.

The Wolverines (3-3) had a promising start to the tournament, with a 69-49 victory over Buffalo (2-3) on Friday night. All 10 of Michigan’s players saw game action, each tallying at least two points in the win.

But it was senior guard Veronica Hicks who stood out among the rest. Hicks, after enduring a scoring slump during the last two games, displayed her trademark aggressive style of play. She scored 17 points, snagged three rebounds and had a team-best five assists.

Defensively, Michigan also showed strength, forcing 18 Buffalo turnovers. The Wolverines made seven steals and won 32 defensive rebounds.

“Defensively, we did really well,” Hicks said after Friday’s game. “They had a really good player in the post, so we kept the ball out of the post for the most part and we kept them from getting transition baskets which was something we knew they liked to do on offense.”

And though Michigan was happy with its leader returning to form, a more promising sign came from the Wolverines' bench.

Sophomore forward Sam Arnold recorded her first career double-double and Michigan's first of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

“I told Sam and (junior guard) Carmen (Reynolds) that between the two of them last game, 47 minutes, they only had one rebound,” Michigan coach Kevin Borseth said. “And Sam answered tonight with 11. I thought overall Sam had a really good game, had some nice assists, had a couple buckets around the basket and of course, got 11 rebounds. That’s a pretty big night for her.”

Though Arnold is a young player with little playing experience from last season, she has begun to prove herself as a valuable asset to the team. In last week’s game against Marquette, Arnold led the Wolverines in scoring with 12 points, all in the second half.

Another young player, sophomore guard Kate Thompson, stepped up offensively on Saturday against No. 8 Texas A&M. Thompson led the Wolverines with 12 points. For the third game this season, a bench player led Michigan in scoring — and for the second time, it was Thompson.

Thompson was the only Wolverine who made it into double figures in scoring in that game. She also had a team-high four rebounds.

But even with the aggressive play off the bench, Michigan lost, 67-49, to the Aggies (5-0).

Michigan had a season-high 22 turnovers and lost the offensive-board battle, 16-3.

The Aggies were up 34-20 at halftime, but quickly extended their lead in the second half with an 8-3 run. The Wolverines trailed by as many as 28 points in the second half, but managed a 17-6 comeback run in the final six minutes, led by Thompson off the bench.

But that was as close as Michigan would come to an upset. Senior forward Danielle Adams led the Aggies with 17 points and junior forward Adaora Elonu followed with 14. Adams and Elonu also combined for 15 rebounds to remain unbeaten in the three-game all-time series against the Wolverines.

“We didn’t play very well,” Borseth said after Saturday’s game. “But they made us not play very well — they are the best defensive team in the country. We learned a lot from it and gotta go from here.”