After suffering a three-game skid, the North Alabama women’s basketball team returned to its winning ways with a 100-70 victory over Shorter at Flowers Hall.

The Lions’ (16-6, 10-6 Gulf South Conference) win over the Hawks (8-13, 7-9 GSC) marked the 10th conference win, after winning four all last season.

“We had lost three in a row, and people weren’t making their shots,” said UNA head coach Missy Tiber. “We shook up the lineup this week, and a few of the (players) may have been mad, but they had a fighter’s mentality. That was the response we were looking for.”

The lineup versus Shorter saw freshman Ivy Wallen make her first career start at the point guard position, where she led the Lions in points (31), rebounds (9) and assists (7) for the near triple-double.

Freshman guard Emma Wallen added a second-best 25 points to UNA’s total, including 6-9 on three-point field goals.

This was the first game back since Jan. 26 against Mississippi College for junior guard KeKe Gunter.

Gunter showed no signs of rust as she scored a third-best 19 points in 33 minutes of playtime coming out of concussion protocol.

“It felt really good (to be back),” she said. “It’s good to get back to the kind of basketball we like to play. We like to be aggressive on offense and defense, and I think we did that today.”

UNA will begin a two-game road trip when they travel to West Georgia Feb. 9, followed by a visit to in-state rival West Alabama Feb. 11.

The Lions will be back at Flowers Hall Feb. 16 when they host first-place West Florida.