The SMU Women’s Basketball team stifled Texas Southern Monday Night en route to a 66-50 victory.

The Mustangs have started out the season 2-0, and won both games by more than 15 points.

These resounding victories are bringing plenty of excitement to the team and its players.

“Oh super excited, we are starting a tradition of winning early, and it’s always good to go into a cross-town rival undefeated,” Alisha Filmore, senior captain, said.

The team was particularly impressive on defense throughout the game forcing Texas Southern into 30 turnovers, 19 of them being steals.

SMU capitalized on these turnovers and scored 29 points off them.

Defense was not the only strong point for the team. Junior, Mallory Singleton earned a career high record for points in a game. Singleton had 16 points on 7 of 13 shooting from the field.

Filmore and Korina Baker both finished with 12 points and Destynee Hives-McCray chipped in with 11 to give the Mustangs the extra offensive boost.

However, the Mustangs cannot celebrate this win long, as the team faces another tough matchup on Thursday night.

The team will face off against cross-town rivals, the University of North Texas at 7 p.m.

The Mustangs will look to build off of Monday night and put up another strong showing at home.

“Every game we are just trying to improve, playing all 40 minutes, getting the post involved, the guards good shots and just keep making good decisions,” Filmore said.

One of the keys to the game will be tempo.

SMU is not known for playing at the quick pace that the team will see from North Texas, who dropped its season opener to Texas State, 88-83.

In the matchup against Texas State, North Texas had close to 100 possessions in the game while the Mustangs are only running approximately 75-80 plays per game.

The Mustangs will have to keep a close eye on freshman Alexis Hyder, who opened her collegiate career with a solid double-double.

For SMU the key will just be to continue to execute and keep the defense at a high level.

The Mustangs will look to get out and run after the team forces turnovers, which has been a key to the offense during this good start. The team is forcing an average of 25 turnovers per game.

If the Mustangs are going to get the offense going against North Texas, forcing turnovers could be an effective way for the team to gain the upper hand.

Tipoff is at 7 p.m. Thursday.