RUSTON, La. – Missouri State women's basketball (15-10, 7-5 CUSA) fell 68-67 to Louisiana Tech (19-5, 12-1 CUSA) here on the road on Saturday afternoon.
 
Lainie Douglas led the way for the Lady Bears on the afternoon with 18 points on 7-for-11 from the field. Maiesha Washington followed with a 12-point, 13-rebound performance, marking a career high in rebounds for the freshman. Kendal Brueggen was the final Lady Bear in double figures with 11, and JaNyla Bush dished out a career-high eight assists. MoState had seven different players contribute at least five points on the day.
 
Louisiana Tech took its first lead of the second half with two minutes left on the clock and reclaimed the lead on two free throws with 0:06 remaining in the game. Missouri State advanced the ball, but came up empty on its final possession of the game to fall on the road.
 
After being up by eight heading into the final period, Missouri State surrendered back-to-back threes to open the fourth and six total in the final frame. MoState continued to hold onto its lead until another pair of treys late in the quarter gave LA Tech a one-point lead. A Douglas layup with 0:20 left gave the lead back to the visiting Lady Bears, 67-66, but a foul was called on the other end and the Lady Techsters converted both to take the lead and come out with the win.
 
After trailing by one at halftime, the Lady Bears came out strong in the third quarter as Kaemyn Bekemeier hit a three to open the second half and flip the lead to MoState. The Louisiana native Faith Lee later connected on back-to-back buckets to push the advantage to four, before freshmen Brueggen and Audrey Hopkins drained triples to give the Lady Bears a seven-point lead. Shortly after, Bush hit MoState's fourth trey of the period and later a five-point surge from Brueggen and Douglas gave Missouri State its largest lead of the game at nine points. Louisiana Tech cut the MoState lead to two possessions late in the third, but two Douglas free throws extended the lead back out to eight as the game headed to the fourth.  
 
It was a slow start for the Lady Bears on the road in Louisiana, as the Lady Techsters jumped out to a 7-0 run before a Brueggen layup got MoState on the board at the 5:04 mark. From there the squads traded baskets with Louisiana Tech pushing the lead to double figures on two occasions, but a Bush jumper to end the first made it an eight-point game at 19-11 after one.
 
Washington served as a major spark for the Lady Bears to open the second quarter, scoring the first 10 points of the quarter for the Lady Bears and going on a 10-2 run herself to knot the game at 21-21 with 5:50 on the clock. A Lady Techsters three-pointer put an end to the run, but back-to-back buckets from Douglas and Bekemeier gave the visiting Lady Bears their first lead of the day at 25-24. After a quick 4-0 spurt from LA Tech, Hopkins found the bottom of the net to make it a one-point deficit again, 28-27, at the intermission.
 
As a squad, Missouri State shot 49 percent (28-57) from the field, 31 percent (5-16) from three and 100 percent (6-6) from the free throw line. The Lady Bears won the battle on the boards 36-23, tallied a season-high 20 assists and received 24 points from its bench.
 
Missouri State will head home to start a four-game home stand, beginning with a visit from Liberty on Thursday, Feb. 19. Tipoff at Great Southern Bank Arena is set for 6:30 p.m. and the game will stream on ESPN+. Thursday's game also features a Beach Night theme and a halftime performance from Christian & Scooby.