The women’s basketball team fell apart in the second half against the University of West Alabama losing 70-69.

The Lions defense forgot to come out of the locker room after halftime as the Tigers scored 45 points after intermission.

“It’s one of those games as a coach you don’t sleep at night,” said head coach Missy Tiber. “It was one game we shouldn’t have lost. We had every opportunity to win.”

With the Lions leading 69-68 with under a minute left West Alabama’s Latisha McCullum hit a jumper to give the Tigers the lead for good.

UNA had another opportunity to take the lead but a Tigers steal with four seconds left ended the Lions hopes of a victory.

“We ran a set play that we always run but Janae (Lyde) passed it instead of going in for the layup which they left open,” Tiber said.

The Lions led 28-25 at the half but thanks to miss open shots UNA was unable to take a bigger lead into the break.

“We had so many open layups we just didn’t make them,” Tiber said.

The Tigers started the second half with a 10-2 run to take the lead and the momentum.

“They came out on fire in the second half,” Tiber said. “If I had to point to one thing that cost us the game it was our defense.”

The Lions did not give up though as they battled to take a 42-40 lead at the 14:25 mark. It was a back and forth matchup featuring 14 lead changes.

Junior guard Jennifer Towne scored 17 points and Lyde finished with 14 points for the Lions.

UNA (10-8, 7-7) host the University of West Georgia Jan. 31 at 1 p.m.