EW's Monk shuts down Atkins, Warriors roll

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on January 21, 2015 1:48 PM

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Next time Zaria Atkins looks in the mirror, it might not be her own reflection looking back at her.

It might be Eastern Wayne's Shontel Monk's reflection.

Monk never took her eyes off Atkins Tuesday night and it paid dividends as the Warriors routed Southern Wayne 61-42 in Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference games.

"I stared at her all night, I was in her face," Monk said. "Timeouts I stared at her. Dead ball, I was staring at her. I didn't stop staring all game. I was going to be in her face the whole time."

The Warriors installed a new box-and-one defense specifically for Atkins. Multiple girls guarded Atkins, but Monk stayed right in her face.

"Every time I kept trying to go and put someone else on her, she just kept guarding her," Eastern Wayne coach Phil Gray said. "She did a tremendous job on her."

Atkins finished with eight points and made just two field goals for the Saints. Cierra Thompson led the team with a double-double -- 15 points, 15 rebounds.

Monk provided the defense, while Jasmine Covington provided the offense on a night where the usual suspects for the Warriors had off nights. Tianna Christopher stayed on the bench after receiving a first-quarter technical foul. Megan Mozingo dealt with foul trouble and Naheria Hamilton saw few playing minutes.

Covington led the way with 16 points and 14 rebounds and three blocks. Monk added seven points and six assists. Mozingo had eight points, Hamilton scored five and Christopher finished the night with one. Hamilton did get have a great night defensively with 10 blocks.

The Warriors blocked 19 shots as a team.

"We know when we have to step up when another player isn't having her best game," Covington said. "Tonight (me and Shontel) were able to do that ... Defensively we just have been working on our time and we had excellent timing tonight blocking shots."