ECU wins third straight game, beats SMU

East Carolina University’s women’s basketball team (13-10, 5-5 AAC) won its third straight American Athletic Conference game Saturday, after dominating Southern Methodist University in a 76-47 home victory.

“I’m just real proud of this basketball team,” head coach Heather Macy said. “I think that they did a great job executing the game plan and sharing the basketball. I mean when you have 20 assists on 31 made baskets it tells you a lot about the unselfishness of our team.”

SMU took a 18-13 lead at the end of the first quarter but ECU battled back and outscored the Mustangs 22-10 in the second period to take a 35-28 lead at halftime. Freshman and junior point guards Lashona Monk and Alex Frazier combined for 23 first half points on 10-for-14 (71.4 percent) shooting for the field.

The Pirates would continue the onslaught in the second half as they outscored the Mustangs 41-19 for the rest of the game. ECU’s defense put the pressure on the opposition all game long as it held SMU to 31.9 percent shooting from the field (15-for-47) and 7.7 percent from three point range (1-for-13) as well as forcing 34 turnovers.

Monk finished the game with an impressive double-double as she tallied 20 points and 10 steals to go along with six assists in third straight start for the Pirates. Over that three game span Monk has been averaging 18 points per game on 52.9 percent shooting from the field and 66.7 percent from three-point range, as well as contributing 5.7 assists and steals per game.

“Defensively I have always known that I can play defense but I’m just comfortable and coach Macy is trusting me so it’s all just coming together,” Monk said.

The Pirates will look to push their AAC win streak to four games when they travel to Tampa, Florida Wednesday to take on the University of South Florida at 7 p.m.