WEATHERFORD, Okla. - A big start by Southwestern Oklahoma State combined with strangeness and confusion in the second half was too much for Midwestern State to overcome as the Mustangs dropped a tough 53-52 decision Saturday night at Rankin Williams Fieldhouse.

The loss snapped the Mustangs' three-game winning streak as they fell to 5-9 on the season.

Midwestern State begins Lone Star Conference South Division play Wednesday when it plays host to Angelo State at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

Southwestern Oklahoma State, which improved to 4-9, raced out to a 17-4 lead seven minutes into the contest and led by as many as 16 points in the first half before the Mustangs stormed out of the locker room to make a game of it in the second half.

"When you get kicked in the teeth, you have to kick back," MSU coach Noel Johnson said. "But once we got back in it, we just couldn't get over the top."

Michelle Duff kickstarted a 12-2 MSU run to open the second half with an 18-footer at the top of the key 18 seconds into the stanza before feeding Regiane Araujo on the next possession to cut the SWOSU advantage to 31-24.

After the Bulldogs' Jenna Sprague responded with a 15-footer from the elbow, Andrea Buben canned a 3-pointer from the left wing and Katiya Jackson hit a fast-break layup to pull the Mustangs to within 33-29.

Then Rosy Ofoegbu converted a nice transition feed from Duff and converted a traditional three-point play to pull MSU to within a point at 33-32 with 15:23 remaining.

Southwestern would respond with an 8-2 run of their own after Midwestern used a five-for-five substitution with Sunny Satery, Michele Kenney, Jazman Patterson, Cierra Thompson and Emily Welborn.

The quintet came in with the Mustangs trailing 37-34, and hung in for a five-minute stretch as Midwestern trailed 43-37 with the starters returned with 9:15 to go.

MSU once again mounted a charge and pulled back to within 51-50 after Jackson nailed a pair of free throws with 2:06 to go.

And that was when the strangeness began.

Araujo was whistled for a player-control foul while she was a half-court away from the action as Buben pulled in a rebound at baseline.

Then with 1:01 remaining, Southwestern's Holly Jennings stepped on the sideline to give the Mustangs a shot at the lead, but Buben missed a trey from the top of the key.

Sprague pulled in the rebound for SWOSU and the Mustangs responded with 29 seconds of solid defense, forcing the Bulldogs into an inbounds pass with a second on the shot clock after Jackson swatted Allie Burdan's layup offering.

Southwestern got an extended time after the clock failed to start until after Jennifer DeGarmo's errant 3-pointer from the right wing failed to draw iron.

Duff drove from coast-to-coast in nine seconds, but the ball was knocked away and the Mustangs were unable to get off a shot before the buzzer.

Midwestern State was led by Araujo, who delivered her seventh double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Jackson finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Southwestern Oklahoma State was paced by DeGarmo's 13-point effort, while Sprague finished with eight points and 13 rebounds.