SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State women's basketball dropped its second consecutive game with a 60-51 loss to Louisiana Tech here on Thursday night at Great Southern Bank Arena.
 
After MoState (12-7, 4-2 CUSA) tied the game at 33-33 early in the third quarter, LA Tech put together a 14-2 run that changed the course of the game. That run, which featured eight points at the charity stripe, put Louisiana Tech (12-5, 5-1 CUSA) up by 12 points with 2:25 left in the third. From that point, the Lady Bears would only close the deficit eight points, coming late in the third following two trips to the line for Lainie Douglas.
 
Down 10 heading into the fourth, Missouri State continued its cold spell from the field that started in the third. LA Tech scored the first six points of the final frame to push its lead to a game-high 16 points with 5:23 on the clock. MoState's span of nearly 12 minutes without a field goal across the third and fourth quarters was the turning point in the contest. The Lady Bears eventually ran out of time as they cut the deficit back to single digits with just 0:07 before falling 60-51.
 
The first half saw MoState get off to a slow start for the second consecutive game, falling behind 8-0 to begin this one. The Lady Bears steadied the ship with a Lainie Douglas layup and a Faith Lee jumper to get things started offensively, before the duo accounted for back-to-back buckets a few minutes later to pull back within one. Douglas scored the final six points of the period on the MoState side to keep it a two-point game, 15-13, after a quarter in Springfield.
 
With the LA Tech lead back up to seven points midway through the second quarter, MoState responded with a nice 9-0 surge that featured a Lee jumper, two Maiesha Washington layups and a traditional three-point play courtesy of Kaemyn Bekemeier to give MoState its only lead of the night. The Lady Techsters responded with a 7-1 run to end the half, carrying a 32-28 lead over MoState at the intermission.
 
Douglas and Lee led the way for the Lady Bears with 15 points each, while Bekemeier pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Two of the biggest areas on the stat sheet for MoState in the loss were only hitting one triple compared to four by LA Tech and on the glass as the Lady Bears were minus-five.
 
The Lady Bears will look to bounce back at home on Saturday, Jan. 24 as they host Sam Houston. Tipoff is set for 1:00 p.m. and the game will stream on ESPN+.