FORT MYERS, Fla. – Missouri State women's basketball (5-2) fell 85-75 to Florida State (4-4) in the final minutes of its opening game of the GEICO Coconut Hoops tournament at Alico Arena in Fort Myers, Fla. on Friday afternoon.
 
The Lady Bears had four players in double figures on Friday, paced by Lainie Douglas with 16 points and two blocks. Maycee James followed with 14 points to match her career high, while Kaemyn Bekemeier posted her sixth double-figure scoring performance of the season with 11 points and six rebounds. Freshman Maiesha Washington rounded out the group with 10 points and six boards.
 
After trailing nearly the entire game and by as many as 16 points, the Lady Bears kept chipping away at the FSU lead and tied the game three times across the final 6:34 of the game. The first time, James connected on a layup to knot the game at 66-66, but Missouri State fouled on a three-point attempt at the other end as the Seminoles went back up by three points. A short time later, Bekemeier got the friendly bounce on her three-point shot and the Lady Bears once again tied it – this time at 71-71 with 4:43 left in the game. The third tie came courtesy of a Washington jumper in the paint to knot the ballgame at 73-73 with 3:10 on the clock.
 
Unfortunately, the Lady Bears could never grab the lead as Florida State ended the game on 12-2 run as MoState was forced to foul with time winding down.
 
It was a rough start for the Lady Bears in this one, as they were outscored 22-10 in the opening quarter.
MoState was getting good looks at the basket, but couldn't get shots to fall early as the Lady Bears shot just .235 (4-for-17) from the field at the start.
 
Missouri State remained patient and finally saw the ball go through the net more consistently in the second quarter. After back-to-back Florida State buckets gave the Seminoles their largest lead of the night at 16 points at the 7:24 mark, James flipped the switch and reeled off seven straight points of her own to jumpstart an 11-0 MoState run to pull the Lady Bears within five points.
 
After swapping baskets and the MoState deficit still sitting at five with under a minute remaining in the half, the Lady Bears defense suffered a lapse as they allowed two triples in the final 0:21 to trail 43-34 at the intermission.
 
Douglas went to work to start the second half, connecting on a couple of layups to open the third and once again make it a five-point ballgame. Cady Pauley hit her lone triple of the night a short time later to shrink the FSU lead to four, before the squads started trading points. As was the theme most of the night, just as MoState pulled close, this time near the six-minute mark, the Seminoles would find the bottom of the basket and drained two treys to stretch their lead back out to 11 points.
 
MoState wasn't going away quietly as the Lady Bears continued to respond. Douglas bookended the third with back-to-back layups to pull MSU within five points as the game entered the fourth quarter. Douglas posted 10 of her 16 points in the third period to help keep the Lady Bears within striking distance.
 
As a team, the Lady Bears forced 15 turnovers and blocked five shots, but they allowed eight triples and turned the ball over 15 times themselves. MoState owned a slight advantage in points off turnovers (14-12) and points in the paint (36-32) but came up short on the boards (38-41), in fast-break points (6-12) and second chance points (6-8).
 
Missouri State will be back in action on Sunday, Nov. 30 to close out its stay at Coconut Hoops. The Lady Bears will face the loser of the Oklahoma and Coppin State matchup at 3:00 p.m. CT. The games are streamed on FloHoops.