After a heart-stopping 75-74 win over arch rival Ouachita Baptist on Monday night, the Henderson State women's basketball team takes to the road again on Thursday to face Arkansas Tech in Russellville, Arkansas at 5:30 p.m. in a match-up of the two teams tied for second place in the Great American Conference.
Series:
The Golden Suns have dominated the all-time series withe Henderson State, leading it 66-29, and have won 20 of the last 21 meetings between the two schools. The Reddies have not beaten ATU in Russellville since Feb. 20, 2006.
Henderson State Notes:
The Reddies are riding high coming into Thursday's contest after a thrilling 75-74 road victory over Ouachita Baptist on Monday night. The win lifts Henderson to 7-2 in GAC play and into a tie with ATU for second place in the GAC standings, trailing only Harding who is the lone unbeaten in the conference at 9-0.
HSU got a big lift on Monday night from
Pink Jones and
Torrie Thompson. Both put up career-highs in points, with 23 for Jones and 20 for Thompson, and both made key plays in the game's final seconds to help the Reddies pull out the win. Thompson hit a jumper in the lane to give Henderson the lead with 0:09 remaining and then Jones chased down and stripped the OBU ball handler from behind seconds later to preserve the victory. The win was HSU's fifth straight over OBU.
Both
Hailey Estes and
Haleigh Henson also had nice games in the victory, with Estes securing a game-high 13 rebounds and Henson scoring 15 points. Estes has recorded four double-doubles this season, third-most in the GAC and most by a freshman. Henson is still the leader in the GAC in minutes played, averaging 34.4 minutes per game.
As a team, Henderson leads the conference in 3-pointers made with 130 in 15 games, is outscoring opponents by an average of 7.0 points per game and is the second-best scoring offense in the GAC, averaging 78.6 points per contest.
Arkansas Tech Notes:
The Golden Suns enter Thursday night's game 7-2 in GAC play and 11-2 overall, following a 72-58 loss on Saturday to Harding in Searcy, Arkansas. The loss dropped ATU into a tie for second-place in the conference standings with Henderson State, who had previously been one full game behind Tech.
Tech is led by the trio of Cheyenne North, Kelsey McClure and Anissa Pounds. North leads the team in scoring and averages 13.8 points per game, McClure chips in 11.5 points per contest, and Pounds is also scoring in double figures at 11.7 points per game and has hit 229 career 3-pointers, making her the most proficient 3-point shooter in GAC history.
As a team, the Golden Suns allow just 60.4 points per game and 35 percent shooting from the field to their opponents, while shooting 43.2 percent from the field themselves; the second best shooting percentage in the league.
