Tahlequah, Okla. - The Missouri Southern women's basketball team battled back to take a 60-57 lead at the 2:41 mark in the final quarter, but could not finish it out as they fell 63-60 to the Northeastern State RiverHawks inside the NSU Event Center Wednesday evening.

MSSU (10-9, 7-4 MIAA) was led by junior guard Chelsey Henry who poured in a career-high 29 points from 50-percent shooting from the field. Junior forward Desirea Buerge added 22 points and eight rebounds, while senior guard Julianna Wadsworth matched a career-high six rebounds in the loss.

 NSU (9-8, 5-5 MIAA) finished with four players registering double-figures in points. Lauryn Blevins registered 14 points and 10 rebounds for double-double to lead the team in both categories.
The Lions took an early 9-5 lead until NSU rebounded with a 7-0 run to go up by three. Each team traded baskets in the closing seconds of the first quarter to be knotted all up at 16-16.

In the second quarter, the RiverHawks went on another 7-0 run to lead by five before closing out on an 8-1 stretch to take a 12-point advantage into halftime.
 
Southern found itself trailing by as much as 14 in the third quarter and battled back to cut the lead to seven, leading to a 5-0 run to enter the final quarter down by four. It carried over as they put together a 6-2 stretch to knot it up at 48-48.
 
The RiverHawks regained the lead and finished out the game on a 6-0 run to seal the victory in the final two minutes of play.

Southern looks to rebound on the three-game road trip as it battles No. 16 Central Oklahoma on Saturday, Jan. 27 at 1:30 pm.