The Lions women’s basketball team defeated Christian Brothers 61-41 in Flowers Hall Feb. 7 and secured a lead in the Gulf South Conference when they defeated Delta State 52-42 Feb. 9 in their second win in three days.

Coach Terry Fowler believes winning at home is the key to success in the GSC.

“In this league, you have to win at home,” Fowler said. “We gave two away earlier in the year against Union and Shorter. It is important and imperative to win at home in this league because wins are tough to come by.”

The Lions led for the majority of the first half but lost it with less than six minutes left. Delta State led 22-21 heading into the half.

“We have been a second-half team all year,” Fowler said. “Our biggest problem has been our start.”

The Lions fared better in the second half as they outscored the Lady Statesmen 31-20 to pull out the victory. Delta State shot 17 more field goals than UNA, but Fowler contributes that to the ability of his team to make it to the free-throw line.

“We just lived at the free-throw line with our physicality,” he said. “We were able to get free throws and that explains the difference in the shots.”

Jennifer Towne had a big game for the Lions as she scored 13 points, nine of which came in the second half and also added eight rebounds.

“We really needed (Towne) rebounding from the guard position against them because their post players did a great job boxing out our post players,” Fowler said. “She just came in from the guard position and grabbed the rebounds.”

Fowler was also excited about the recent play of Nichelle Fillmore.

“She is just playing with a great deal of confidence right now, and it is great to see her at the level she is playing at,” Fowler said.

The Lions will have a week of rest before they play Union Feb. 18. Fowler said the team will rest Sunday and Monday, then get back to work on Tuesday.

“We’ve got to stay focused on the task at hand and getting better each and every day,” Fowler said. “Then we will see what happens on game day.

The day-by-day approach appears to be working for the Lions, who are 9-4 in the GSC and 16-7 total. Only time will tell whether or not it will lead UNA to a GSC championship and beyond in 2013.