When it seemed the UNA women’s basketball team was about to snap its six game losing streak, a rival’s late surge continued the drought.

With the game tied 54-54 with less than two minutes to go, Alabama-Huntsville went on a 9-1 run to defeat the Lions 63-55, giving the team its seventh straight loss.

UNA assistant head coach Adrianne Harlow filled in for head coach Missy Tiber, as the public address announcer said during starting lineups the substitution was due to family reasons.

“That’s really the first close game (in the late minutes) we’ve had all year,” Harlow said. “The environment and our inexperience didn’t allow our success.”

The Lions trailed most of the first half but kept chipping into the Charger lead. UAH took a 31-28 halftime lead into the locker room, but UNA seemed to have the momentum after ending the half on a 6-0 scoring run.

“I thought we found something (before the half),” Harlow said. “They couldn’t guard us going to the basket. We were getting foul calls at the time. They made an adjustment and we didn’t, which is probably a lack of experience and a lack of execution.”

Coming back from an injury suffered against Christian Brothers, sophomore Keke Gunter finished with 12 points and seven rebounds in the loss.

Freshman Elise Holden led the Lions with 15 points in the game.

“I just did what coach told me to do, and I shot the ball more,” Holden said. “We had a meeting before our game to talk about turning our team around. We really wanted to win this game for Coach Tiber.”

The Lions hope to avenge two road losses they suffered early in conference play as they host West Florida Jan. 21 and Valdosta State Jan. 23 in Flowers Hall.