BARTLESVILLE, Okla. — Henderson State got 22 points from Haleigh Henson and held Ouachita Baptist to 31.1 percent shooting for the game, as the Reddies pulled away to defeat their rival for third time this season 66-50 and claim their first Great American Conference Tournament win in program history. The victory advances the Reddies to the GAC semifinals for the first time since the inception of the conference in 2011.
After leading by eight points at the break, Henderson (21-8) saw its lead trimmed down to 38-35 at the 4:53 mark of third, as OBU hit six of its first nine shots to open the half. It was at that moment that the game turned in the Reddies' favor, as they closed the period with a 15-3 run, highlighted by seven points from Henson, to seize a 53-38 advantage entering the final quarter.
OBU (14-15) attempted to rally in the last 10 minutes and trimmed the deficit down to 11 points on two separate occasions, but the Lady Tigers never got the game under double figures again, as Henderson held them to 25 percent shooting in the fourth to hold off a rally and win it going away.
Henson was the catalyst offensively for the Reddies and finished with 22 points, five rebounds and four assists. Pink Jones was the only other player in double figures for HSU and scored 14 points on an efficient 5 of 7 shooting from the field. Karrington Whaley again gave Henderson big minutes and pitched in eight points and five boards on 4 for 4 shooting. Blu Jones added eight points and 10 rebounds for HSU, while Brittany Branum gave the Reddies 23 solid minutes, four points and five boards.
Henderson hit its first four shots in route to a 15-14 lead after one quarter. The Reddies got going in the second and went on a 10-2 run to open up their largest lead, 25-16, with 3:51 to go in the half. A couple missed shots around the basket by Henderson helped OBU close the gap to 27-22 in the final minute of the second period, but with time ticking away, Blu Jones drained HSU's first 3-pointer of the game from the right corner to give the Reddies some momentum and a 30-22 lead heading into the break. HSU held the Lady Tigers to just two field goals and 15.4 percent shooting in the second quarter.
The Reddies won the rebounding battle 44-41 against a bigger OBU team and out-scored the Lady Tigers 40-32 in the paint. Henderson led for more than 36 minutes in the convincing victory. The win for HSU is its first conference tournament victory of any kind since 2006-07 when the Reddies defeated Montevallo 75-39 in the first round of the Gulf South Conference Tournament and also marks the first time in program history that Henderson has defeated OBU three times in one season.
HSU advances to the conference semifinals tomorrow night at 8 p.m. where it will face Arkansas Tech for the third time this season. The teams split during the regular season meetings, with each squad claiming wins at home.
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