MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Missouri State women's basketball (19-12, 11-7 CUSA) fell 86-75 on the road at Middle Tennessee (16-14, 11-7 CUSA) on Saturday afternoon.
 
After trailing by as many as 18 points early in the third quarter, the Lady Bears worked to put a dent in the deficit throughout the entire second half. A couple of short surges in the third quarter cut the MTSU lead to 11 points twice and then the Lady Bears got hot from beyond the arc. Three triples in the final 1:18 of the third quarter from JaNyla Bush and Audrey Hopkins made it a seven-point game heading into the final period.
 
In a high scoring fourth quarter that saw Missouri State shoot 50 percent from the field, the Lady Bears worked as hard as they could to pull off the comeback victory. A Kaemyn Bekemeier three and Maiesha Washington layup pulled MoState back within five points at the 2:07 mark. With the MTSU lead still at five with 1:37 remaining, a Middle Tennessee trey was the dagger in MoState's comeback hopes as the Blue Raider lead stretched back out to eight. Missouri State was forced to foul down the stretch and fell in the regular season finale 86-75 on the road.
 
It was all Middle Tennessee in this one as the Blue Raiders grabbed the lead early and held it for the duration of the game with the exception of a 2-2 tie at the 9:33 mark. Over a three-minute span in the first, MTSU used a 9-0 run to stretch its lead to 11 points. Missouri State then got its first real offensive rhythm as Bush knocked down a trey, and Kendal Brueggen and Bekemeier hit layups to pull within four after a short seven-point run. Following a few Middle Tennessee free throws, a Maycee James jumper made it a six-point deficit, 19-13, for the Lady Bears after a quarter.
 
The second quarter saw the Lady Bears fight to keep the deficit at single digits, but a 6-0 run near the midway point of the second for the Blue Raiders pushed the lead back to 13 points for the home team. Brueggen then posted five straight points herself to get MoState back within nine, but a short time later, MTSU put together a 10-3 run to end the half and lead by 16 points, 46-30, at the intermission.
 
Brueggen led the way with a career-high 18 points on 6-for-10 from the field. Lainie Douglas followed with 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Bekemeier and Washington rounded out the Lady Bears' double-digit scorers with 12 and 10, respectively.
 
Missouri State will head to the Conference USA tournament next week (March 10-14) in Huntsville, Ala. The final seeding and bracket for the tournament will be announced later.