Behind 22 points, five rebounds and four steals from Pink Jones and 13 points from both Hailey Estes and Haleigh Henson, Henderson State edged East Central 74-72 in Ada, Oklahoma to start the Great American Conference season 3-0.
 
The Reddies got off to a hot start to the game and opened up a 23-8 lead at one point in the first quarter behind four 3-pointers. Slowly, though, ECU began to chip away at the Henderson lead, eventually closing the gap to 24-15 at the end of the first period.
 
In the second, the Tigers hit their stride, as they shot 65 percent from the floor, with most of their buckets coming in the paint, in route to a 24-14 quarter and a 39-38 halftime advantage. Henderson, however, responded in the third quarter. Behind three 3-pointers from Henson, the Reddies outscored ECU by nine and carried a 63-55 lead into the final 10 minutes of play.
 
ECU came out inspired in the last frame in front of their home fans and chipped away at the Reddies' lead, eventually taking a lead of their own 72-71 with just under three minutes to play. But after the two teams traded empty possessions, Pink Jones rolled in a fifteen-foot jumper to give Henderson the lead back 73-72 with 1:15 left in the game and Henderson got a big stop in the final seconds to ultimately prevail 74-72.
 
Jones, the sixth leading scorer in the GAC and the top freshman scorer, has now registered double figures in all seven games to start her college career.
 
As a team, the Reddies had a strong offensive performance, shooting 48 percent from the field and hitting 12 3-pointers. Henderson also won the rebounding battle with a much bigger team, outrebounding the Tigers 36-27.  Estes led the Reddies efforts on the glass with nine rebounds and Brooke Lewis also chipped in seven boards in the victory.
 
Henderson is now 3-0 in conference play for the first time since joining the GAC and will play again on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Southeastern Oklahoma State in Durant, Oklahoma.