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ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — The best defensive team in the Great American Conference will face off with the best offensive team in the league on Thursday night at the Duke Wells Center, when Henderson State welcomes GAC front runner Southwestern Oklahoma State to Arkadelphia at 5:30 p.m. to begin the second round of conference games.

Last Time Out
- Defense was the story for Henderson State on Tuesday night, as the Reddies held Ouachita Baptist to just 22 points and 27.3 percent shooting from the field in the second half to pull away from their rival 67-56 at Bill Vining Arena.

- Leading 59-52 with 7:44 to play after a Lady Tiger 3-pointer from guard Morgan Miller, Henderson (12-5, 8-3) went on an 8-0 run over the next five minutes, led by back-to-back buckets from Pink Jones, to seize a 67-52 advantage with just over two minutes left. OBU had no answer, as the 3-pointer from Miller proved to be Ouachita's second-to-last basket from the field in the game. With victory in hand after holding the Lady Tigers to just nine points in the final period, the Reddies were able to dribble out the clock and pick up their eighth Great American Conference win of the season.

- Jones was again terrific for Henderson, finishing with 25 points, six rebounds and five steals on 9-of-17 shooting from the field and perfect 7-for-7 shooting at the free throw line. Bossier, who played the majority of the fourth quarter with four fouls, chipped in 10 points and eight rebounds. Estes, who also played smart down the stretch with four personals against her, added eight points and seven rebounds, while Blu Jones had seven points and Haleigh Henson six.

Reddies Report
- Thursday marks the halfway point of the conference schedule for all GAC teams. At the midway point, Henderson is 8-3 and in third place in the league standings, just one game behind second place Arkansas Tech and two full games ahead of Southeastern Oklahoma State who is in fourth. The top eight teams at the end of the regular season will face off at the GAC Tournament in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, on March 1-4. The Reddies have won 11 of their last 13 games.

- Pink Jones averages 16.6 points per game and is fourth in the GAC in scoring. Jones is shooting 47.5 percent from the field this season and 75 percent from the free throw line. She has scored 25 or more points every other game for the past eight contests.

- Hailey Estes remains the top rebounder in the conference (9.2 rebounds per game) and Tuesday night's win over OBU, a game in which she battled four fouls for the entirety of the second half, marks the first time in the last seven outings that she has not eclipsed double-digit rebounds.

- Haleigh Henson hit two more 3-pointers against OBU on Tuesday to bring her career total to 260, just nine away from breaking the GAC record for 3-pointers in a career (268, Anissa Pounds, Arkansas Tech). Henson averages 13.5 points per game and is tied for the league-lead in 3-pointers this season (48).

- Henderson continues to lead the GAC in both scoring defense (63.9 points per game) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (26.2 percent). The Reddies have the second-best scoring margin in the league in conference games (plus 8.6) and average 72.5 points per game, fourth-best in the GAC.

Scouting SWOSU
- The Lady Bulldogs enter Thursday night's game 15-1 on the year, 11-0 in GAC play and are the No. 9 team in the country according to the latest D2SIDA poll. They are led by head coach Kelsi Musick who has led SWOSU to 145 wins in nine seasons in Weatherford, Oklahoma. They have won their last eight games and are atop the league standings at the halfway point of the conference season.

- SWOSU wields the No. 4 scoring offense in the nation and best scoring offense in the GAC. The Lady Bulldogs average 86.3 points per game and are shooting 44.5 percent from the field this season, including a conference-best 37.3 percent from beyond the 3-point line. They have hit 152 3-pointers this season and taken 401. Defensively, SWOSU struggles and ranks 11th in the league in scoring defense, allowing 75.8 points per game to its opponents.

- Reigning GAC Player of the Year, junior forward Hailey Tucker, is the headliner for SWOSU. Tucker is the conference leader in scoring (20.9 points per game) and also averages 8.1 rebounds per game. She has been named GAC Player of the Week four times already this season. The Lady Bulldogs also boast the current GAC Player of the week, junior guard Hayden Priddy, who averages 15.4 points and 4.8 assists per game while also shooting 42.7 percent from beyond the arc and just under 90 percent at the free throw line. Sophomore guard Tyra Aska completes the three-headed monster offensively for SWOSU and averages 14.1 points and 2.4 steals per game. All of the "Big 3" for SWOSU are in the top four in the GAC in minutes played per game, with each averaging over 33 minutes per contest. 

The First Matchup vs. SWOSU
- In the previous meeting this season, Henderson State battled to a 40-40 tie at the half on the road in Weatherford, Oklahoma, but SWOSU out-scored the Reddies 26-13 in the third quarter and held off an HSU rally in the fourth to defeat Henderson 80-72 in the second GAC game of the year for both squads.

- Hailey Estes had a season-high 24 points, while Pink Jones added 16 points and Haleigh Henson finished with 14 to lead the Reddies offensively. Henderson shot just 24.7 percent in the second half after shooting over 40 percent in the first.

- Since the early season loss to SWOSU, the Reddies have won 11 of 13 games and have not allowed a team to score 80 points or more again.

Promotions
- Thursday night is "Greek Night" at the Duke Wells Center, as the Henderson State fraternities/sororities will be recognized and in attendance.

- Representatives from each Greek organization will participate in halftime games during the women's game, and a special stroll-off performance during halftime of the men's game.