Box Score NEW ORLEANS – Missouri State women's basketball improved to 7-2 on the season with a 72-66 road win over Tulane (3-5) here on Thursday night in New Orleans, La.
 
MoState had four Lady Bears score in double figures, led by Kaemyn Bekemeier with 22 points and seven rebounds. Lainie Douglas added 16 points and seven boards, followed by Faith Lee and Maiesha Washington with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
 
After trailing by two at the half, Tulane knocked down its fifth of 10 triples on the night to extend the lead to five. MoState responded in a big way, reeling off 13 consecutive points to reclaim the lead and push it to an eight-point advantage for the visitors at the 5:21 mark of the third period. With the two sides swapping baskets, the Green Wave added a couple of triples and connected on layups on back-to-back possessions near the minute mark to cut the MSU to as little as two points.
 
Leading by four to start the fourth quarter, the MoState defense went to work early as the Lady Bears held Tulane scoreless until the 4:53 mark. Meanwhile, a Bekemeier trey was sandwiched between a Washington and Douglas layup to give the Lady Bears an 11-point, 62-51, lead with 5:44 remaining in the game. From there, Missouri State closed it out to secure a six-point road victory, 72-66.
 
Missouri State got off to a solid start in New Orleans, grabbing the lead early and extending it to five points just a few minutes into the game. However, after a decent start, there was a lid on the basket for the Lady Bears as they were held scoreless for over six minutes in the opening frame. During that span, the Green Wave reeled off nine points and flipped the lead over to the home side, 14-10. Washington's jumper stopped the scoring skid briefly for the Lady Bears, but Tulane added five more points before the end of the first quarter to hold a 19-12 lead after the first 10 minutes.  
 
After a three to open the second period from the Green Wave, Missouri State wasted no time responding.  Douglas connected on a fastbreak layup to spark a 12-0 run to give the visitors a lead for a short time at 24-22. From there, the squads swapped buckets with Lee connecting on a jumper for the final basket of the first half to cut the MoState deficit to two points, 32-30, at the half. Douglas scored six of her eight first-half points in the second quarter on 3-for-3 from the field.
 
As a team, Missouri State dominated on the glass, outrebounding the Green Wave 41-29. The Lady Bears also owned the advantage in the paint (34-24), in second chance points (15-4), fast break points (16-13) and in points off turnovers (19-7). Despite allowing 10 triples, MoState had the advantage at the charity stripe, going 19-for-26 compared to 8-for-13 for Tulane.
 
The Lady Bears head home to open a four-game home stand, beginning with a matchup against Kansas on Sunday, Dec. 7. Tipoff at Great Southern Bank Arena is set for 2:00 p.m. and the game will stream on ESPN+.