The Lion’s roar was tweaked when both teams suffered a loss from Washburn State University.

Feb. 5, the men’s basketball team went up against the Ichabods and came away with an in-conference loss of 93-73 when they competed at Topeka.

The Lions held the lead until 6:41 into the game, when the Ichabods tied the game 13-13 as Kris Milburn, junior guard, scored two points for WSU. Southern would not take the lead for the rest of the game.

In the first half, Southern would commit six turnovers as compared to WSU’s two, and they would trail by as many as 17 points to end the first 20 minutes at 49-37.

The second half would not go much better for the Lions as they would stay down eight points from the Ichabods. The Lions would come as close as nine points behind WSU, but it would never be enough to catch up to them.

“We got to play better defensively,” said Robert Corn, head men’s basketball coach, “We’ve got to execute our half-court offence better.”

The Lions’ high scorer for the game was Orestus Cavness, senior forward, with the 22 points he was able to sink. He had a total of six rebounds. Jeremie Bond, junior center, also had six rebounds and was second in scoring with a total of 14 points scored.

On Wednesday, Feb. 9 the Lions played against Emporia State University and came up short with a score of 74-70.

The next game for the Lions will be Saturday, in a home game against the Southwest Baptist University Bearcats. Tip off is at 7:30 p.m. in the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center. The men’s record now stands at 9-15 and 5-8 in the MIAA.

On the same night the men’s team lost against the Ichabods, the women’s basketball team also experienced a setback against the WSU Lady Blues.

The No. 4 WSU team scored 13 more points than Southern to beat them with a score of 85-62.

The Lady Blues shot a total of 51.8 percent for the game, including 60 percent of the long-range shots in the second half, while the Lions only shot 44.2 percent

“We need to be more patient on the offensive end,” said Maryann Mitts, head women’s basketball coach. “We’re trying to shoot the open shot, instead of finding the best shot possible.”

The Lions are currently last in the MIAA conference in assists and had just eight assists for the entirety of the game.

“We’re more one-on-one instead of team players,” Mitts said, “which is something we need to improve.”

Vonny Wilson, senior forward, was the Lions’ high scorer for the game with 17 points. She also had five rebounds, as did Dacie Reutlinger, junior forward. Aubrie Hallman, senior guard, scored 15 points.

Southern also competed against No. 8 Emporia State University on Feb. 9, but lost 80-58.

The women’s record now stands at 14-8 and 6-7 in the MIAA. Southern’s next game will be against the SBU Lady Bearcats Saturday. They will play at 5:30 p.m. in the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.