BOLIVAR, Mo. — Henderson State gave Southwest Baptist all it could handle for nearly 37 minutes on Friday evening, but the Bearcats out-scored the Reddies 15-4 in the game's final 3:26 to pull away and hand Henderson an 82-73 loss in the season opener for both teams.
The Reddies led by as many as eight late in the third quarter and carried a 61-59 lead into the final period, but trailing 69-67 with 3:26 to play in the game, SBU turned to senior guard Megan Rosenbahm and she took over, scoring the next 13 points for the Bearcats to help them erase the late deficit and snatch the win away from HSU.
Henderson led for more than 22 minutes in the game and for nearly all of the second half. After falling behind 27-22 at the end of one, the Reddies put together a strong second quarter effort defensively, outscoring the Bearcats 16-8 behind seven points from
Hailey Estes and six from
Pink Jones to take a 38-35 lead into the half.
Southwest Baptist trimmed the Reddies' lead down to 52-51 with 3:30 to go in the third quarter, but HSU responded with a
Blu Jones layup, a
Torrie Thompson 3-pointer and two
Pink Jones' free throws to stretch its advantage out to 59-51 — its largest lead of the night. However, the Bearcats closed the quarter with what proved to be a big 8-2 spurt; erasing Henderson's momentum and putting SBU within striking distance for their pivotal, late-fourth quarter run.
The Reddies had four players score in double figures in their first contest of the year and were led by
Pink Jones, who finished with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals.
Torrie Thompson and
Haleigh Henson each hit three 3-pointers apiece to finish with 15 and 13 points, respectively, while
Blu Jones added 11 on 62.5 percent shooting from the floor with four steals.
As a team, Henderson won the rebounding battle, 35-32, shot 44.4 percent from the field and went 7-for-20 from beyond the 3-point line. Rosenbahm led the Bearcats with 25 points, 13 of which came in the final three minutes, while forward Caylee Richardson added 23 on 10-of-12 shooting.
Henderson has a quick turnaround and will face another MIAA-foe in Northwest Missouri State tomorrow at noon in its second and final game at the SBU Classic.
