The UNA Lions basketball teams had a rough weekend as they fell in ranking after losses to Union Feb. 16.

The women’s team fell behind with 14:13 left in the first and never could recover.

“Union did a great job defensively of taking away our strength, which is our inside game,” said Terry Fowler, head coach.

Union led 29-15 at the end of the first half and held the Lions off for the rest of the game, as the Bulldogs pulled out the 66-46 victory.

“They forced us to shoot 3-pointers, and we couldn’t make enough of them to loosen up their defense,” Fowler said.

The Lions were 2-10 from behind the 3-point line.

“We didn’t play well … period,” Fowler said.

Jennifer Towne led the Lions with 13 points on the night. She also grabbed six rebounds and two steals. Nichelle Fillmore scored 12 and rebounded seven in the UNA loss.

Fowler remains confident in his team despite the tough loss.

“We feel when we play our best that we are as good as anyone,” he said.

The Lions women’s team fell to second place in the GSC as Delta State won two games last week to take over the first spot in the race. UNA is now 16-8 on the season and 9-5 in the GSC.

“I think there are about three teams who think they are the best team,” Fowler said.

Union is 16-6 on the season and 11-3 in conference play but is not eligible for the postseason until the 2014-2015 season.

The men’s game was closer as it took the Bulldogs an extra period to send the No. 24 ranked Lions home with a loss.

The loss caused the Lions to fall out of the top 25.

The game was close for all 45 minutes. There were 13 ties and 12 lead changes. The lead never reached more than six points for either team.

The Bulldogs led 46-42 at the end of the first half and tied the game at 86 after the second half.

The Lions led by four with 43 seconds left in the overtime period.

The Bulldogs, who have the worst record in the GSC, then scored six straight points to pull off the 101-99 victory over the Lions.

The Lions are now 2.5 games behind UA-Huntsville after the Chargers split their two games last week.

Marquel Darrington led UNA with 26 points and nine rebounds. DeAndre Hersey had a double-double as he scored 22 points with 10 rebounds.

Both teams will travel to Rome, Ga., to play Shorter Feb. 21 before they host rival UA-Huntsville Feb. 23.