This year’s basketball season launched off with a win for the men and a loss for the women Nov. 15 at Young Gym.

In the women’s first game, Missouri Southern lost to Northeastern Oklahoma State University in a battle that was close until the end.

The Lions started the game with Vonny Wilson, senior forward, scoring two-point with a lay-up. This trend would continue for the first half, but the team fell short of victory in the second half when NSU took control in the final 10 minutes of the game.

“We realized we made mistakes,” said Danielle DeVader, freshman guard, “[But] there weren’t things we can’t improve on.”

The Lady Reds went on to victory with a score of 50-46.

“We knew it’d be a tough basketball game,” said Tyrone Jones, assistant coach for the Women’s team, “We played well for the first 10 minutes. We still have a long ways to go if we want to go to the NCAA tournament.”

The women will be competing next at the Central Oklahoma Classic in Edmond on Friday and Saturday.

The men’s game against Central Bible College fired up around 7:30 p.m. with a lead by the Lions. Orestus Cavness, senior forward, laid up the ball with assistance from Jeremy McCadney, junior guard, to score the first two points in the game.

The first half would continue as the Lions went head-to-head with the Spartans, losing the lead only once when Central Bible College proceeded with one point with four minutes and 35 seconds left.

However, the Lions would take the lead back, closing the score at 43-40 for the first half.

The second half belonged to the Lions as they roared ahead, going in for the kill as the clock ticked away. Southern took the victory with a score of 90-76.

“We played hard at times,” said Aundrey Wright, assistant coach for the men’s team, “However, because we got off to a good start, we got a little too comfortable. But we picked up our defense.”

The men’s team will be competing next as Southern hosts the Freeman Sports Medicine/Chris Tucker Memorial Classic Friday and Saturday.

They will play first against Panhandle State University.

The game will start at 7 p.m.