LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Missouri State women's basketball (12-6, 4-1 CUSA) dropped its first Conference USA game of the season with a 63-56 road loss at New Mexico State.
 
After trailing by 13 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Lady Bears used an 11-2 run early in the period to pull within six points at the 5:03 mark. MoState's next big punch came with three minutes remaining as Lainie Douglas converted an and-1 opportunity and Kaemyn Bekemeier capped the six-point surge with a layup to pull the Lady Bears within two. Unfortunately, a one possession game is as close as the Lady Bears would get as they surrendered a couple of buckets in crunch time to fall 63-56 on the road.
 
It was a slow start on the road for the Lady Bears from the jump, as they never grabbed the lead in the game. Despite a close game early and a good start from senior Faith Lee, the momentum turned in favor of New Mexico State with less than two minutes remaining in the first quarter. After a Maiesha Washington jumper cut the NMSU lead to two with 2:23 remaining, the Aggies reeled off nine straight points to end the first and lead 21-10 after one period.
 
The home team's momentum carried over into the second quarter as New Mexico State hit two early treys and used a short 4-0 run to push the advantage to 15 points at the 4:12 mark. After trailing by as many as 16 in the second period, MoState put together its first sustained run for five consecutive points to pull back within 11 courtesy of Maycee James, Lee and Washington. However, the Aggies got a layup to fall as time expired to make it a 13-point game, 38-25, at the intermission. The Lady Bears did shoot a much-improved 50 percent from the field in the second quarter, but the Aggies responded with a 55 percent clip of their own.
 
Out of the break, Bekemeier scored the first five points and a couple of Douglas free throws capped a 7-0 surge to pull MoState within six points at the 6:57 mark of the third. Just as the Lady Bears swung the momentum in their direction, New Mexico State snatched it right back with a 6-0 push to stretch its advantage back out to 12 points. MoState hit shots from the free throw line but was just 1-for-11 in the quarter and went the final 7:36 of the third without a field goal.
 
Douglas led the way for MoState's offense with 17 points, on 6-for-8 from the field and a perfect 5-for-5 at the line, while adding six rebounds. Bekemeier and Lee followed in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Meanwhile, Washington contributed 10 points and led the team with eight rebounds on the afternoon.
 
MoState owned a slight 34-32 advantage in paint points, but lost the battle on the glass 36-32. The Lady Bears shot 36 percent (20-56) from the field, 11 percent (1-9) from three and 71 percent (15-21) from the charity stripe.
 
The Lady Bears return home next week as they welcome Louisiana Tech (Thursday, Jan. 22) and Sam Houston (Saturday, Jan. 24) to Springfield. Tipoff against LA Tech is set for 6:30 p.m. and the game will stream on ESPN+.