Allowing your opponent to shoot 51 percent from the field can make it tough for any team to win a basketball game. But when your team shoots less than 27 percent for the game, including a putrid 5-for-29 in the second half, the chances of winning are almost non-existent.

Miles found itself in this exact dilemma Monday night in its home opener against West Alabama. The Tigers scored 40 points in the paint, many off of layups, while the Lady Bears could not get anything to fall in a 66-54 loss at Knox-Windham Gymnasium. Amoni Walker had a team-high 11 points and Jasmine Hollis (10 points, game-high 12 rebounds) had her second double-double this season but the two combined to make six of Miles' 15 total field goals and shot 30 percent total.

If one thought that everything was falling for West Alabama in the first quarter, they were not far off. The tigers hit 9-of-14 from the field and led 26-19 after the first quarter. UWA pushed the lead as high as 13 points in the second quarter before the Lady Bears mounted a comeback. A 3-pointer from Najla Shamsid-Deen and a layup on the break from Frantisha Tyson highlighted an 8-0 run to get Miles back in the game. Taylor Terry (seven points, three blocks) closed out the quarter with a jumper and two free throws and deficit was just 38-34 at the half.

Walker nailed a 3-pointer and Shamsid-Deen (nine points) hit two free throws to open the third quarter and Miles was down just 42-39. But at that point, it appeared the lid shut on the basket for the Lady Bears. Miles missed its next seven shot attempts - five of them from downtown - and what was a close game turned into a 50-39 deficit when J'Niyah Daniels (game-high 25 points) scored with just under three minutes left in the quarter. The Lady Bears would miss 13-of-16 shots that quarter (19 percent) and trailed 55-43 headed to the fourth. It did not get much better from there as Miles missed 11-of-13 shots in the fourth. The Lady Bears went nearly six minutes without a bucket to start the period as the UWA lead swelled to 16 points and Miles never got any closer than nine points the rest of the way.

Victoria Sutton had six points, five rebounds and two assists for Miles, which opens conference play Saturday when it hosts Clark Atlanta. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m.