State sports briefs

BASKETBALL Jones leads HSU women to victory

Henderson State University guard Pink Jones scored 37 points on 15-of-23 shooting from the floor and added 6 rebounds to lead the Reddies to a 79-70 victory over Southeastern Oklahoma State on Thursday in Arkadelphia.

Guards Hailey Estes and Haleigh Henson added 13 points each for Henderson State (166, 11-4 Great American Conference), which also got 8 points and 13 rebounds from forward Bree Bossier to win its fourth consecutive game.

In other Great American Conference women’s games Thursday, Arkansas Tech University (17-3, 13-3 GAC) outscored Southern Nazarene 38-24 in the first half, then extended its lead with a 25-point third quarter in a 79-49 victory at Tucker Coliseum in Russellville. Kylie Ladd led the Golden Suns with 13 points. … Chasidee Owens scored 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the floor and pulled down 10 rebounds to lead Ouachita Baptist University (1210, 8-8 GAC) to a 69-69 victory over East Central (Okla.) in Arkadelphia. … Falan Miller scored 16 points and Carissa Caples added 13 as Harding University (11-13, 7-9 GAC) defeated Oklahoma Baptist 70-66 in Searcy. … Sue Key scored a gamehigh 27 points for Southern Arkansas University (7-15, 6-10 GAC), but it wasn’t enough in a 79-72 loss to conference-leader Southwestern Oklahoma State in Magnolia. …Brittnee Broadway scored 15 points and Charlynn Perry added 13 to lead the University of Arkansas at Monticello (7-14, 3-13 GAC) in a 70-62 loss to Northwestern Oklahoma State at Steelman Field House in Monticello.

BASEBALL

OBU drops home opener

Ouachita Baptist University lost its home opener, 2-1, to Northwest Missouri State on Thursday at Rab Rodgers Field in Arkadelphia.

Ouachita Baptist (2-3) took an early lead in the third inning when a throwing error allowed Jakahari Howell to score for a 1-0 lead. Northwest Missouri State tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the third, then took a 2-1 lead in the fifth on an RBI single by Landon Figg.

The Tigers finished with just three hits, coming from Howell, Tyler Riebock and Ty Owens. Starting pitcher John Franklin Matros (0-1) took the loss after allowing both Northwest Missouri State runs on 4 hits with 5 walks, 5 strikeouts, a wild pitch and a hit batter over 6 innings.

SOFTBALL

ATU gets two victories

Pitcher Bailey Shaffer earned her first two victories of the season Thursday as Arkansas Tech University (5-1) defeated Northwest Missouri State 11-6 and Emporia State 9-5 on the first day of the UAM Division II Challenge in Bentonville.

Shaffer scattered 5 hits in 21/ innings of relief against Northwest Missouri State. She allowed 3 earned runs and had 1 strikeout. She threw 5 innings of relief in the victory over Emporia State, allowing 1 run on 3 hits with 4 strikeouts.

Paige Mendoza and Ashton Sangster had three hits each for the Golden Suns in the first game, while Janie Knowles had three hits for Arkansas Tech in the second game.