NEW ORLEANS - The University of New Orleans won for the second straight game, defeating Arkansas State 70-57 on Saturday afternoon at Lakefront Arena.
The win gave UNO (9-15, 3-10 Sun Belt) consecutive conference wins for the first time since opening Feb. 2009 with a pair of home wins.
Nicole Holmes had a season-high 20 points to lead the Lady Privateers, one shy of her career-high.
Brittany Helm added another 17 points to go along with eight rebounds and a season-high eight assists. Tiffina' Bennett scored 12 points with Candice McGee filling the box score with nine points and nine rebounds.
ASU (9-14, 4-8 SBC) fell for the sixth time in their last seven road contests.
Ebonie Jefferson scored most of her team-high 17 points from the charity stripe, connecting on 9 of 14 attempts from the line.
At the start of the contest, ASU made just 1 of 10 attempts from the field before finishing the first half with a 29.2 percent clip. The Red Wolves' top three scorers combined to shoot 4 of 18 after 20 minutes.
On the UNO end of the floor, the story was different as the shots were falling.
Bennett set the tone early by connecting on her first two three-point attempts to help the Lady Privateers to a 12-5 lead.
UNO's lead grew to a high of 13 just before the half as the squad shot 50 percent from the field, including 4 of 8 from beyond the arc to enter the break with a 36-23 advantage.
After ASU cut the deficit down to single digits at the start of the second half, the Lady Privateers got back in a groove and pushed the lead to 15 points on a Rachele Monroe three-pointer with 16 minutes remaining in the contest.
The Red Wolves went right back to work and scored 12 of 14 points to trim the deficit to 47-42, the closest they had reached since early in the first half.
With the game in the balance, UNO went on a 13-3 run to take a 60-45 lead. Strong free throw shooting down the stretch by the Lady Privateers kept ASU at bay and allowed the home team to complete a 2-0 week.
The Lady Privateers will close their three-game homestand on Wednesday at 7 p.m. against North Texas. The contest will be broadcast on WGSO 990 and available online at UNOPrivateers.com.
