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BATON ROUGE, La. – Missouri State women's basketball finished the season with a 25-8 record following a 63-56 loss to Ohio State in the First Round of their 17th NCAA Tournament appearance.
 
It was a back-and-forth game early at the Maravich Center, with MSU never leading by more than two points in the early going. Right before the first media timeout, graduate senior Mariah White knocked down her first shot of the afternoon to spark a 5-0 run that continued on the other side of the timeout.
 
Following an Ohio State free throw to cut the MSU back to four points, Paige Rocca sank her first three-pointer of the game, which Jennifer Ezeh followed up with a layup at the :31 mark to give MSU a nine-point, 14-5, lead after the first 10 minutes.
 
Ohio State scored three points to begin the second quarter before Rocca sparked a 6-0 Missouri State that propelled MSU to a 12-point lead.
 
The Buckeyes answered with back-to-back three-pointers to cut MSU's lead to six points. After an Ifunanya Nwachukwu layup followed by OSU's third three-ball of the second quarter, MSU led by five. A Brice Calip jumper extended the Lady Bear lead to seven points, but Ohio State then reeled off 8-0 and 6-0 runs separated by just a Nwachukwu layup to take a 31-26 lead into halftime.
 
Calip led MSU at the half with six first-half points to pair with two rebounds. Nwachukwu had a game-high eight first-half rebounds.
 
OSU's lead out of the half hovered between five and seven points in the third quarter when Calip drove in for a layup to spearhead an 8-0 Lady Bear run to give MSU a 36-35 lead with 4:45 remaining in the third quarter.
 
From there, both teams battled, with Ohio State hitting a three-pointer with :02 left on the clock to take a 44-43 lead over the Lady Bears heading into the final 10 minutes.
 
MSU answered immediately with four consecutive points to open the fourth quarter via Sydney Wilson and Abi Jackson to retake the lead 47-44. MSU extended their lead to four following a Nwachukwu converted and-1 opportunity.
 
Ohio State went on a 5-0 run of their own prior to Calip knocking down two free throws to give MSU the narrow 52-51 lead with 3:37 left in the game. From there, OSU took the lead on a three-point basket and two free throws and would not surrender the lead back to the Lady Bears.
 
Calip once again hit a layup, this time with :41 remaining, but OSU scored the final five points of the game, as MSU was forced to foul. Missouri State's season ends in the First Round of their 17^th NCAA Tournament appearance.
 
Sixth-year senior and the winningest Lady Bear of all-time, Brice Calip led MSU with 15 points on the day to pair with five rebounds, three assists and three steals. With her first assist, Calip became just the second Lady Bear in program history to record at least 1,700 points, 500 assists and 700 rebounds, joining Casey Garrison on the list.
 
Jackson tacked on 11 points, eight rebounds and four blocks against the Buckeyes, while Nwachukwu had a game-high 17 rebounds, marking the second-most rebounds in an NCAA Tournament game in program history. As a team, the Lady Bears also recorded the second-most rebounds in an NCAA Tournament game in the program's history with 51 against the Buckeyes.