HILO, Hawaii- The Truman State Women's Basketball team couldn't dig themselves out of an early deficit and fell to the University of Hawaii-Hilo 68-61 on Saturday.

The Bulldogs went up 7-4 in the first quarter but then suffered a scoring drought that last nearly five minutes. Hilo scored 15 straight points and went on a 21-2 run eventually taking a 33-13 lead midway through the second quarter. 

Truman State tried to muster a rally and scored 10 in-a-row in the fourth quarter and close the gap to six points on a hoop by Molly Joyce with 43 seconds remaining but could not cut into the lead any further.

Joyce led the Bulldogs with 18 points while adding nine rebounds. Katelyn Odem finished with 13 and Jordan Cunningham added 12. 

The Bulldogs will jump back into conference play when they return from the holiday break facing Missouri S&T on Friday, January 3rd in the second half of a conference doubleheader with the men's program. The men's game will tip at 3 p.m. followed by the women around 5:30.