SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State led by seven a minute into the fourth quarter against Southern Miss on Wednesday, but five fourth-quarter turnovers and a 15-0 run by the Lady Eagles early in the final period resulted in the Bobcats falling, 67-59.
 
Texas State (13-17, 3-14 Sun Belt) lost its fifth in a row after it was 2-of-14 shooting (14.3 percent) in the fourth quarter. Southern Miss (17-11, 10-7 Sun Belt), meanwhile, was 7-of-13 (53.8 percent) from the field in the final 10 minutes.
 
"It was a tough game," said Texas State head coach Zenarae Antoine. "It feels like we're in that Groundhog's Day scenario where we're playing folks close and it slips away."
 
For the game, the Bobcats were outshot 51 percent to 42 percent.
 
Jaylin Foster led all Bobcats with 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting. Julia Coleman was the only other Bobcat to reach double-figures in points as the freshman scored 13, which were two shy of her career-high.
 
Domonique Davis of Southern Miss had a game-high 22 points, all of which were scored in the second half. She scored 15 points in the fourth quarter.
 
Texas State forced Southern Miss into 24 turnovers and outscored the Lady Eagles, 33-22, in points off turnovers. The Bobcats had 20 turnovers, which were their fewest in the last six games.
 
However, Texas State was outscored 23-10 in the fourth quarter and made only one of its last 12 field goal attempts in the final eight minutes.
 
"You can look at the stats and see we didn't shoot well from the free throw line, which is true, and we turned the ball over, but we got them to turn the ball over and we scored out of that," added Antoine. "Truly what it comes down to is finding that next gear and being able to truly understand in-game, when folks are battling, we have to find ways to do the little things so folks don't go on runs to push ahead in these close contests. There are just so many games that are close for us."
 
In the first half, Texas State shot 52 percent from the field (13-of-25). Morgan Hill had eight points in the first two quarters while Coleman was a perfect 3-of-3 in shooting for her first six points.
 
The Bobcats were 7-of-12 from the field in the second quarter, including 4-of-6 in the final four minutes, to help them enter halftime tied at 31-all.
 
In the third quarter, Texas State jumped out to a six-point lead at 37-31 in the first two minutes thanks to a pair of layups by Foster sandwiching a Sierra Dickson bucket. The Bobcats went on to lead by as much as seven in the third quarter when Timia Jefferson made a lay-up to bring the score to 49-42 with 1:01 to go.
 
Coleman knocked down a jumper with 8:58 left in the fourth quarter that made it 51-44 Texas State, but the field goal was the only successful attempt by the Bobcats for a nearly seven-minute stretch. Southern Miss used the span of eight straight missed shots by the Bobcats to go on its double-digit run and open up an eight-point advantage at 61-53.

A three-pointer by Crystal Smith cut the Texas State deficit to 63-59 with 2:16 remaining in the game, but Smith fouled out on the subsequent possession and Southern Miss executed the two free throws to re-establish its lead at six points, 65-59. A Bobcat turnover on their next possession was converted into a made field goal on the other side by the Lady Eagles as they put away the Bobcats for the second time this season.
 
Texas State will wrap up its regular season schedule on Friday with a contest against ULM at 5 pm in Strahan Arena.