Playing their final home games of the regular season, the Berry basketball teams split Sunday afternoon’s Southern Athletic Association against Birmingham-Southern at The Cage Center.

The Berry women opened the day with a 64-60 win, but the men’s team fell just short of completing a sweep as the Vikings’ upset bid was denied with a 53-50 loss.

In the women’s game, four Lady Vikings scored double digit points. Chanlir Segarra led the way with a game-high 17 points for Berry.

The Lady Vikings improved to 12-13 overall and 6-8 in SAA games. Birmingham-Southern fell to 12-13, 7-7 in SAA.

Former Coosa star Mel McLean added 15 points for Berry, and former Model standout Alexa Evans had 13. Tara Mullinax finished with 10.

The teams won’t have to wait long for a rematch. They will meet again on Friday at the SAA Conference Tournament at Millsaps College.

Birmingham-Southern tied Sunday’s game at 36-36 with 14 minutes left, but Evans converted a three-point play to give Berry the lead for good.

Following the game, senior Allison Lawrence and Evans were honored on Senior Day.

In the men’s game, the Vikings delivered one of their best games of the year, but Birmingham-Southern College hit late free throws to hold off Berry’s upset bid.

“I was very proud of the team as they did everything we asked of them,” said interim head coach derek taylor. “We played to win the game and I was very happy with the performance.”

Prior to the game, seniors Jonathan Abrams and Cory Marsh were recognized for senior day.

Berry fell to 5-20 overall and 2-12 in the SAA. Birmingham-Southern College improved to 18-7, 10-4.

Devan Bruce had 11 points and Abrams added 10 for Berry.

The Vikings will be the eighth seed in the upcoming confernce tournament, and will play at top-seeded Centre College on Friday in the first round.

In Sunday’s game, Abrams hit an off-balance three-pointer with 15 seconds to cut the score to 51-50. Abrams then committed his fifth foul and Panther Blaise White made both free throws to push the lead to three points.

Mac Whalen and Bruce both took game-tying shots in the final seconds, but both were off target.

The Vikings got off to a hot start. Berry led 22-8 after a Mac Whalen jumper with 9:33 left in the first half. An old fashioned three-point play by Abrams gave the home team its biggest, lead, 25-10, with 5:40 left in the half. The Vikes held a 28-23 lead at halftime.

The visitors, however, went on an 8-2 run to start the second half and took its first lead, 31-20, with 16:46 remaining.

Larry Thomas netted a game-best 18 points for the Panthers. BSC was 15-19 from the free throw line in the game.