The Lady Lions were trailing as much as 20 points in the second half before crawling back to secure their first win in the Gulf South Conference at Flowers Hall last night.

It was a game that the Lady Lions had to have after dropping their first two conference games of the season, and early on it looked as though they would drop their third after trailing 31-16 at the half and shooting 20 percent from the field.

“First half, we only made five shots, and the second we made 15, we just weren’t hitting shots in the first half,” said head coach Terry Fowler. “All we needed was a spark in the second half and got that by shooting the three ball to help us get going.”

The Lady Lions were just 5-of-20 from the 3 pt. line, but all five came in the second to help secure the win for the Lions.

The Argonauts took their largest lead of the game in the second half with a 41-21 advantage at the 15:52 mark. The Lions then got a basket made by Jasmine Horne on the ensuing possession, and then got a defensive stop and hit their first three-point basket of the game. The three-pointer came from Delisa Madry and cut the deficit to 41-28 with 13:44 remaining.

UWF led 46-34 before the Lions went on a 15-4 run to pull the score within one at 50-49 with 5:19 remaining in the game. North Alabama took its first lead of the game on a layup by Nichelle Fillmore to go ahead 56-54 at the 3:02 mark.

At that point, the Argonauts could not get the lead again, as the Lady Lions continued to make baskets down the stretch to close the game out. Sophomore forward Nichelle Fillmore led the Lady Lions, scoring 16 points followed by Dana Jackson with 10 points on the game.

“We had to come out harder at halftime, and coach said we needed a spark, and we had two players come off the bench to give us that. I just followed their lead,” Fillmore said. “We are going to take the confidence that we got in this game, and maybe we can take the next one too.”

Last night was also the first home game for the Lions in conference play, and the Lady Lions fed off the energy from the crowd to help get the momentum going in the second half.

“Defending the home court is the thing you have to do in this league-we have to win at home and hope we can steal some on the road,” Fowler said.

The Lady Lions will be back in action Saturday at 1 p.m. in another big conference test against Valdosta State at home.