LYNCHBURG, Va. – Missouri State women's basketball suffered an eight-point, 60-52, loss on the road at Liberty here on Sunday afternoon.
 
Kaemyn Bekemeier led the way with a game-high 24 points and a team-high seven rebounds. The junior guard surpassed 900 career points with her performance. Lainie Douglas followed with 12 points and five rebounds, while Faith Lee rounded out MoState's double-digit scorers with 10 points.
 
After trailing by 10 at halftime, the Lady Bears (13-8, 5-3 CUSA) cut into the lead early in the third courtesy of a Douglas layup and Bekemeier triple. Continuously chipping away, Bekemeier hit her second trey of the frame and Cady Pauley knocked down a jumper to make it a four-point ball game. Out of the timeout, though, Liberty (10-10, 4-5 CUSA) immediately answered with a 7-0 surge to stretch the lead back out to 12 heading into the fourth.
 
Midway through the fourth quarter, Liberty extended its lead to a game-high 19 points, but the Lady Bears had one final push in them that would ultimately come up short. A couple of Bekemeier free throws bookended a 13-0 run for the visiting Lady Bears that cut the Flames' lead to six points. Over the final 3:43, the MoState defense forced four turnovers, but the Lady Bears ran out of time and steam late before falling 60-52.
 
The beginning of the game saw Liberty jump out to an early lead with a 10-2 run near the midway point of the opening quarter. Bekemeier ended the frame on a high note for the Lady Bears by converting an and-1 opportunity to make it 15-8 after one.
 
MoState and Liberty traded big runs in the second quarter, but unfortunately Liberty's came first in the frame to extend the Flames' lead to as many as 17 points with 3:11 on the clock. That's when the Lady Bears made their move to chip away at the deficit as much as possible before the half. Bekemeier and Douglas combined for seven straight points to bring the second to a close with MoState trailing 29-19 at the intermission.
 
Missouri State returns home next week as the Lady Bears welcome Middle Tennessee (Feb. 5, 6:30 p.m.) and Western Kentucky (Feb. 7, 1:00 p.m.) to Great Southern Bank Arena. Both games will stream on ESPN+.