COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Texas State women's basketball team (4-5) struggled offensively in a 69-50 loss to No. 24 Missouri (9-3) on Monday night at MIZZOU Arena.

Junior guard Brooke Holle led the Texas State offense with 14 points and six rebounds. She has scored double-digit points in four-straight contests. Freshman guard Ja'Kayla Bowie scored nine points and added four rebounds, while totaling a team-best five assists and four steals.
 
"We put in a game plan that we were comfortable with, but we did not execute the way we needed," head coach Zenarae Antoine said. "We had great looks, especially behind the 3-point line but were unable to finish plays."

Senior guard Sophie Cunningham paced the Missouri offense, tallying a game-high 20 points. The two-time first team All-SEC performer scored 11 points in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to put the visiting Bobcats away. She also chipped in four rebounds and three assists. Junior guard Amber Smith registered 15 points, five rebounds and five assists for the home team, while junior guard Jordan Roundtree notched 10 points, five rebounds and three steals.

Missouri dominated inside the paint, outscoring the Bobcats by a count of 36-14. The Tigers slowed the pace of the game and exploited the TXST zone defense by attacking the high-low game. The accumulation of paint shots allowed MIZZOU to shoot 27-of-52 (51.9 percent) from the floor compared to Texas State's 19-of-51 (37.3 percent) shooting.

Texas State was able to turn Missouri over 20 times, but only cashed in the extra possessions into 15 points. Meanwhile, Missouri collected 17 turnovers and scored 25 points off the miscues. Although the Cats were outrebounded 35-24, TXST limited Missouri's second chance scoring to just four.

At the 3:44 mark in the second quarter, Texas State trailed by seven points at 31-24. Missouri clamped down on the defensive end, holding the Bobcats scoreless for the remainder of the half. Missouri scored the final seven points of the half to carry a 14-point advantage into the break. The Bobcats were never able to bring the game closer than the 14-point margin.

With the Bobcats trailing 52-37 entering the final stanza, Missouri's Cunningham scored 11 of the Tigers' first 13 points to push the lead out to 65-42 at the 5:50 mark. The lead hit a game-high 25 points with 4:15 to play before Texas State scored eight of the final 10 points of the game to close the final margin to 19 points.

Up next, the Bobcats will head to New Orleans to partake in the 2018 Tulane Classic. Texas State will open the tournament with a 1 p.m. scheduled tip on Dec. 21 against St. Mary's. The result, coupled with the outcome of the Tulane-Old Dominion tilt, will determine the second-round matchup for the Bobcats. Action on day two, Dec. 22, will begin at noon from Devlin Fieldhouse on the campus of Tulane University.

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