SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State women's basketball (15-11, 7-6 CUSA) suffered its third straight loss after falling 55-43 at home against Liberty (14-11, 8-6 CUSA) here on Thursday night at Great Southern Bank Arena.
 
Kaemyn Bekemeier paced all players with 19 points on the night and added eight rebounds. Maiesha Washington pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds, while Maycee James came up with five steals against the Flames.
 
After rallying to tie the game at 24-24 at halftime, Missouri State came out of the break and posted a season-worst performance with just four points in the third quarter. Following two Bekemeier free throws to knot the game at 26-26 early in the third period, the Flames took control of the game. Over the last 8:11 of the third quarter, Liberty went on a 16-2 run to extend their lead out to 14 points by the end of the frame. Missouri State shot nine percent (1-for-11) from the field in the quarter compared to 64 percent (7-for-11) by the Flames.
 
The Lady Bears showed some fight in the fourth quarter, using a 9-0 surge that ended near the midway point of the fourth to pull back within seven points after trailing by as many as 16 points. Unfortunately, buckets were hard to come by for Missouri State following that run as the time continued to tick away. A short 5-1 run for the Flames extended the lead back out to double figures near the two-minute mark, and the Lady Bears just couldn't close the gap as they were forced to send Liberty to the free throw line down the stretch in the 12-point loss.
 
The first half saw an incredibly close game as all of the game's five lead changes happened in the first quarter. Following back-to-back buckets by Faith Lee and Lainie Douglas to start the game, the two squads traded runs and buckets back-and-forth. A Liberty basket with under a minute left in the first gave the visitors a narrow one-point lead, 12-11, after the first 10 minutes of action.
 
Liberty kept the momentum for most of the second quarter, but a Bekemeier triple finally seemed to kickstart the MoState offense. Even though the Flames answered with a three of their own to put the Lady Bears down by eight with 2:05 left in the first half, MoState responded in a big way. Bekemeier free throws sparked a run that also featured a Kendal Brueggen layup and a Washington jumper. Audrey Hopkins capped the spurt with two free throws with under one second on the clock as she was fouled near half-court with time nearly expired, tying the game at 24-24 at the break.
 
Missouri State shot just 25 percent (13-for-52) from the field and 15 percent (3-for-20) from beyond the arc on the night.
 
The Lady Bears are back in action on Saturday afternoon as they host Delaware at Great Southern Bank Arena. Tipoff is set for 1:00 p.m. and the game will stream on ESPN+.