Tied at 28-all heading into the break, the East Central Women's Basketball team turned in a strong 67 percent (14-of-22) shooting percentage from the floor to go along with a 17-of-26 (65 percent) success rate from the charity stripe in the second half to work past Henderson State, 79-66, Saturday afternoon in Ada, Okla.

To start the second half, the Lady Reddies (11-9, 4-6 GAC) nailed back-to-back three-pointers from Shillalile Jones and Cheree Freeman to break the tie and give HSU a six-point lead, 34-28. The Lady Reddies would maintain a slim lead for the first seven minutes of the second half.

Down by five points with 14:52 remaining in the game, ECU would go on a 9-0 run over the next 3:44 of game time to take a four-point lead, 45-41. In the length of that run, the Lady Reddies slipped into similar shooting woes from a couple nights ago as they went 0-for-5 from the floor and 0-for-1 from the free throw line.

Despite surrendering the lead, the Lady Reddies would battle back several times in the game. Down by seven-points, 56-49 with 8:11 left in the game, HSU went on an 8-2 run to get to within a point, 58-57. A few minutes later, the Lady Reddies would knot the game up at 61-all with 4:16 to go, but the Lady Tigers would weather the comeback and eventually cruised to the 13-point victory, 79-66.

HSU was led by Krystal Beachum, who came off the bench and turned in a monster game. The junior guard had a career-day putting up 18 points on 9-of-12 shooting, pulling down five rebounds, dishing out five assists, and coming away with five steals. Freeman joined Beachum in double figures with 14 points. Junior forward Destiny Smith led the team in rebounding with 11. Smith also ended with eight points.

The Lady Reddies will now return home for a clash with Southeastern Oklahoma on Thursday, February 9th. Tip-off for the game at the Duke Wells Center is set for 5:30 p.m.