Reddies welcome Boll Weevils, Cotton Blossoms
ARKADELPHIA — Henderson State’s men’s and women’s basketball teams will seek a third consecutive Great American Conference sweep today when they host Arkansas-Monticello at the Duke Wells Center.
The men’s game is scheduled to tip at 3 p.m. in Arkadelphia. The women’s game will open the doubleheader at 1 p.m.
Henderson (7-2, 2-1) earned its second straight win a week ago, 75-74, against Harding (4-4, 2-1). Eric Dailey found Jeremiah Toney for a layup with 3.8 seconds left to win it for the Reddies. It was their third straight win over the Bisons dating back to last season.
It was also a second-consecutive onepoint victory in conference play. The Reddies held on for an 80-79 road win on Dec. 1 at Arkansas Tech (2-7, 0-4).
Dailey and Toney played perhaps the best games of their respective careers. Dailey tied a career high with 17 points and added five rebounds and five assists, while Toney gave the Reddies 13 points and 11 rebounds in 20 minutes off of the bench.
Henderson is fourth in the league in field goal percentage defense, holding conference opponents to just 41.9 percent shooting from the field. The Reddies are fourth in rebounding offense with 39.7 per game and turnover margin at plus-one. Henderson is second in the GAC in offensive rebounding, averaging
14 offensive boards per contest. Chris Parker ranks 10th in the league with 15.7 points per game against conference opponents. He had 19 points against Harding.
Nine players for Henderson currently average 14 or more minutes and five or more points per game. Eight different Reddies have started this season and nine have scored in double figures.
Today marks the 160th meeting alltime between Henderson and Monticello
(5-3, 2-1). The Reddies lead the series,
94-65, and won the first matchup in 193132, 47-18.
The Boll Weevils have won five of their last six games. They fell, 65-63, to Harding in overtime in their league opener, but they have since picked up wins against Ouachita Baptist (4-3, 1-2) and Arkansas Tech.
Since they were picked last in the
2016-17 GAC Preseason Poll, the Boll Weevils have gone 29-14 in conference play, 42-19 overall and have reached the title game of the GAC tournament in each of the past two seasons. Monticello shared the regular season crown in 201617 with East Central.
Junior guard Austin Hardy leads Monticello with 15.6 points per game, while fellow junior guard K.J. Lesure is one of just seven players in the GAC averaging five or more assists per game at 5.6.
Monticello leads the league in rebounding offense with 43.3 per game and blocked shots with 5.7 per game. The Boll Weevils are second in the conference in scoring defense, allowing 65.7 points, and field goal percentage defense, allowing
38.2-percent shooting.
Women
Henderson upset the highest-ranked women’s basketball team in the conference a week ago.
The Reddies (7-1, 3-0) defeated Harding (6-2, 2-1), 84-77, to remain undefeated in GAC play. The Lady Bisons were the No. 6-ranked team in the NCAA Division II Central Region.
Twin sisters Pink Jones and Blue Jones led the way. Pink Jones scored 31 points and Blu Jones added 18 for Henderson’s fifth win in a row.
Henderson jumped two spots in the most recent Division II Sports Information Directors of America poll to No.
6 in the Central Region as one of just three GAC teams to be featured in the rankings.
Southwestern Oklahoma State (8-1,
3-0) is ranked third in the region. Harding dropped to No. 10.
Pink Jones is sixth in the GAC in scoring and third in assists with 16.6 points and 3.9 assists per game. Hailey Estes is eighth in the conference with 16.5 points per game and fourth in rebounding at 8.4. She has hit the second-most 3-pointers of any players in the league so far this season with 21. Karrington Whaley is second in the conference with 11 blocks and fourth in the GAC in field goal percentage at 60.3 percent.
The Reddies are the No. 1 scoring defense in the GAC so far this year, allowing just 60.3 points per game. Henderson also has the second-best turnover margin in the conference at plus-five.
Henderson’s 7-1 record ties its best start to a season since the 2011-12 when the team opened up 7-1. The last time Henderson began a season 8-1 or better was in 2006-07 when the Reddies started 12-0.
Today marks the 91st meeting all-time between the two programs. Monticello leads the series, 54-36.
The Cotton Blossoms (2-5, 1-2) broke a 21-game losing streak to Arkansas Tech (4-4, 2-2) a week ago. They defeated the Golden Suns, 74-65.
MacKenzie Johnson leads Monticello with 20 points per game this season, shooting 69.1 percent from the field as a guard, but the Blossoms have struggled shooting the ball as a team and are 11th in the GAC in field goal percentage at 36.1 percent. They do rank third in the conference in scoring defense, allowing just
63.7 points per game to GAC opposition. Junior guard Berniezha Tidwell, of Hot Springs, joined Monticello this summer as a transfer from Highland Community College in Kansas. Tidwell has not appeared in a game this season, but she could make her season debut today.