The UNA women’s basketball team defeated UA-Huntsville 60-48 in Flowers Hall Feb. 23, allowing the team to stay in the GSC regular season championship race.

The Lions kept the Lady Chargers from scoring a field for the first 10:05 seconds of the half. Three out of their first four shots were 3-pointers. UNA went 11-25 on threes in the win.

“For us it wasn’t our plan to shoot a lot of 3-pointers; they were running a 2-3 zone and we began to shoot,” said Terry Fowler, head coach. “They were playing the percentages and we went 44 percent from the field.”

The Lions began the game with a 15-1 run, with the single point coming off of a made free throw. Fowler credits the Lions defense for the run.

“They executed the game plan,” he said. “We couldn’t let them penetrate; they wanted to penetrate and pass the ball out.”

UA-Huntsville went 12-59 from the field, a low 20.3 percent. The Lions led the entire game with a perfect shooting performance from Lauren Faris. Faris went 7-7 from the fi eld, with six of those being 3-pointers.

“She stepped up and she knew she had to,” Fowler said. “She talked about it after the West Florida game.”

The only blemish for the Lions was their 21 turnovers.

“We tried to force it into the paint a couple of times and make some diagonal passes,” Fowler said. “Once they got down, they could take chances. They could gamble a little bit.”

UNA will host West Georgia Feb. 28 and travel to West Alabama March 2.

Fowler and the Lions will look to capture the GSC regular season title.

“The last two games are huge,” Fowler said. “Really it depends on what happens in the West Georgia-Delta game.”

Delta State defeated West Georgia Saturday Feb. 23 to stay one game ahead of the Lions. Delta State will play Valdosta State and West Florida to end the season. If they were to lose one of the games, it would open the door for UNA to jump into a tie or even a lead in the GSC.