HSU seeking back-to-back GAC victories at Duke Wells

ARKADELPHIA — Henderson State will pursue a second consecutive Great American Conference win at home today against Southwestern Oklahoma State after defeating Northwestern Oklahoma State on Thursday at the Duke Wells Center.

The Reddies (9-5, 4-4) got a career-high 23 points and nine rebounds from Mike Fofana on Thursday and shot 53.7 percent to fight past Northwestern (3-10, 1-6), 85-73. Chris Parker added 14 points and four assists. Rel Johnson finished with 12 points and Joshua Jones scored 11 points on 3 of 4 shooting from 3-point range.

Henderson trailed, 42-41, at halftime, but six straight points from Fofana jump-started a 16-4 run midway through the second half. The lead was 69-57 was 7:02 as Northwestern was held to just one field goal during a seven-minute stretch.

The Reddies will play at home again today at 3 p.m. against Southwestern (3-10, 0-7). They are 5-1 this season at home.

Johnson ranks 13th in the conference with 13.4 points per game. Fofana is fifth in rebounding with 7.5 boards per game.

Southwestern is coached this year by Terry Evans, who was the head coach for 13 seasons at Central Oklahoma, where he won 263 games. The team is led by junior guard Tre Evans, the coach’s son.

Evans leads the GAC in scoring this season with 24.3 points per game.

Women

Karrington Whaley finished with 14 points on 7-for-8 shooting

with six rebounds Thursday and Lexis Weber provided a spark off the bench as Henderson State’s women’s basketball team held off Northwestern Oklahoma State, 59-53, on Thursday.

Blu Jones and Pink Jones combined to score 23 points as Henderson (11-3, 6-2) won the rebounding battle, 40-30. Weber had eight points and five rebounds in just 15 minutes, including the game-clinching steal and score in the game’s final seconds.

The Reddies held the Rangers (5-9, 2-5) to just 31.7-percent shooting, including a 5-for-24 mark from the 3-point line.

The score was tied, 16-16, at the end of the first quarter on a buzzer-beating layup by Pink Jones. The Reddies took control in the second quarter with an 8-0 run, including six points from Whaley, and took a 33-21 lead into the halftime break.

Henderson held a 38-21 lead in the third quarter, but Northwestern made it 44-39 by the start of the fourth quarter. The score was 57-53 before Weber gave the hosts a six-point cushion with 16 seconds left to play.

The Reddies will be at home again today at 1 p.m. against Southwestern (12-1, 7-0), ranked no. 20 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II Coaches Poll. Henderson is in second place in the conference behind the Bulldogs.

Henderson boasts the thirdbest scoring offense in the GAC with 75 points per game. The Reddies are second in the league in team field goal percentage at

42.9 percent.

The defending GAC regular season champions are led by two-time league Player of the year Hailey Tucker, who leads the GAC in scoring with

19.5 points per game. She is the league’s all-time leading scorer with more than 2,000 points in her career.