Marshall University women’s basketball came up short Saturday at the Henderson Center against Louisiana Tech’s Lady Techsters by a final score of 74-69. It was the team’s first home conference game of the 2017-18 season.

“We were very proud, knowing we fought the whole game,” sophomore guard Mychelle Johnson said. “We just had to figure out how to attack their defense.”

Junior guard Shayna Gore led the Herd on offense with 19 points, 12 of which were from behind the arch. Kristen Mayo scored 12 total points and led the Herd in steals (6) and assists (5). On the other side, Alexus Malone lead the Lady Techsters with 20 points and eight rebounds.

“We thought we fought hard, including our coaches,” Gore said. “We are making strides in places, and we need to start putting pieces together, and when we do that, we will be harder to play against.”

With the loss, the Herd is now 6-10 overall, and 0-3 in conference play. The Lady Techsters improved to 12-5 overall, 3-1 in conference play and are tied for second in Conference USA standings.

“The energy in the locker room is still positive,” junior guard Logan Fraley said. “We obviously wanted to win, but we remain in the mindset that we have to go back to work and continue to make strides moving forward.”

After the first quarter, the Herd led 14-13, but the Lady Techsters started the second quarter with a 15-0 run that the Herd ultimately could not recover from. Head Coach Tony Kemper has said in the past that his team strings together three good quarters, but there is always one quarter that they don’t play well and fall behind.

“The second quarter has been trouble for us lately,” Gore said. “We need to execute our game plan better. I think we get ahead of ourselves, and we dig ourselves in a hole where sometimes it’s too late to get out of it.”

The game was plagued with scoring droughts by both teams. The Herd went on two separate scoring runs in the third and fourth quarters, outscoring LA Tech 12-0 and 11-0. Marshall erased a 17-point deficit and tied the game up in the third quarter, but another scoring drought allowed the Lady Techsters to retake the lead and ultimately win the game.

“I like where our team’s mentality at,” Gore said. “We fought hard against LA Tech, and it’s been awhile since I’ve seen that out of us. If we keep fighting and playing hard like we are right now, I don’t have a worry about any team.”

The Herd continues to look for its first conference win as it travels to Norfolk, Virginia to take on the Old Dominion Monarchs at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Courtney Andrews can be contacted at [email protected].