Reddies advance with historic elimination of rival Ouachita

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. — Henderson State defeated rival Ouachita Baptist, 66-50, Friday at the Bruin Fieldhouse to sweep the season series and claim the program’s first win at the Great American Conference Women’s Basketball Championships.

The victory advanced the Reddies (21-8) to the GAC semifinals for the first time since the inception of the conference in 2011. In a series that dates back to 1972, the Reddies notched three wins against the Tigers in the same season for the first time in program history.

Henderson met Arkansas Tech (24-3) in the second semifinal Saturday night. The Golden Suns survived an upset bid, 68-64, by East Central (10-17) in Thursday’s opening quarterfinal contest.

Henderson earned the No. 3 seed with a conference record of 16-6 and Ouachita (10-15) finished sixth at 10-12. Arkansas Tech is the No. 2 seed at 19-3, while East Central finished seventh at 9-13.

The Reddies seized control in the second quarter when they outscored the Tigers, 15-8, to take a 30-22 lead at intermission. They allowed the Tigers to make just 2 of 13 from the floor.

Ouachita closed the gap to three, 38-35, early in the second half only to see Henderson State score 15 of the next 18 points, highlighted by seven points from senior Haleigh Henson, of Greenwood. The Tigers hit six of their first nine shots to open the half.

The Reddies maintained a double-digit advantage the remainder of the contest and led 5338 entering the final quarter. Ouachita attempted to rally in the last 10 minutes and trimmed the deficit down to 11 points on two separate occasions, but Henderson held the Tigers 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. The GAC’s all-time leader in 3-point field goals went just 1-for-9 from beyond the arc, but made 7 of 13 from inside the line and went a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line.

First-Team All-GAC guard Pink Jones, a sophomore guard from Fayetteville, was the only other player in double figures for Henderson, scoring 14 points on an efficient 5 of 7 shooting from the field in her first GAC Championship game. Freshman forward Karrington Whaley, from Springdale Har-Ber, again gave Henderson big minutes and pitched in eight points and five boards on 4-for-4 shooting. Sophomore guard Blu Jones, of Fayetteville added eight points and

10 rebounds for Henderson, while Greenwood junior Brittany Branum gave the Reddies four points and five boards in 23 minutes.

Henderson hit its first four shots to take a 1514 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 of missed shots around the basket by Henderson helped Ouachita close the gap to 27-22 in the final minute of the second period, but with time ticking away, Blu Jones drained Henderson’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. Henderson held the Lady Tigers to just two field goals and 15.4 percent shooting in the second quarter.

Junior Alivia Huell, of Malvern, scored a team-high 15 points for the Tigers to go with five rebounds. Sophomore Shakyla Begnaud, out of McGehee, added 10 p0ints and six rebounds..

Senior Kori Bullard, of Lake Hamilton, was held scoreless in 18 minutes, but led the Tigers with eight rebounds. Fellow senior Morgan Miller, of Siloam Springs, scored seven points and grabbed six rebounds.

Henderson won the rebounding battle, 44-41, against a taller Ouachita team and outscored the Tigers, 40-32, in the paint. The Reddies led for more than 36 minutes.

The win gives the Reddies their first win at a conference tournament since 2007 when they defeated Montevallo 75-39 in the first round of the Gulf South Conference Championships. They advanced to the semifinals of a conference tournament for the first time since 2006, when they made the Gulf South final.

The Reddies and Golden Suns split during the regular season as both won on their home courts. Henderson State will attempt to break the strangle hold held by Tech, Harding and Southwestern Oklahoma State as two of those three programs have appeared in all six previous GAC finals.