SIU women’s basketball (9-8, 2-4) extended its losing streak at Missouri State (7-10, 4-2) to eight years Friday night.

The Salukis could not overcome a cold start from the floor in a 61-57 loss.

Although SIU made five of its last seven shots in the first half, the Bears took a 28-26 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The second half had six lead changes in the first 12:31, but Missouri State led the rest of the way.

Junior guard Cartaesha Macklin’s three-point shot with 18 seconds left pulled the Salukis to within one, but junior guard Blair Stephenson turned the ball over with two seconds left and her team down by three.

Coach Cindy Stein did not put the blame for the loss on Stephenson after the game.

“That’s not where we lost the game,” Stein said. “We lost the game in the middle of the half. They went on a roll and we had a hard time recovering.”

Junior center Dyana Pierre recorded her 29th career double-double with 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Friday was the first time this season SIU had lost a game in which Pierre had a double-double.

Freshman guard Kylie Giebelhausen led all scorers with a career-high 16 points.

Junior forward Hillary Chvatal led Missouri State with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

The Salukis play the Shockers (15-3, 6-0) at 3:40 p.m. Sunday at Wichita State.

Thomas Donley can be reached at [email protected] or at 536-3311 ext. 269