ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Henderson State held one of the nation's top scoring offenses in check for most of the night and cut a once-10 point deficit down to just four with three minutes to play, but the Reddies went cold from the field late and fell to No. 9 Southwestern Oklahoma State 71-61 on Thursday evening in the Duke Wells Center.

Trailing 59-49 with 6:33 to play in the game, Henderson (12-6, 8-4) came storming back with a quick 10-4 run, behind 3-pointers from Brittany Branum and Blu Jones, to cut the SWOSU (17-1, 12-0) lead to just 63-59 with 3:08 left. Over the final three minutes, the Reddies got the stops they needed on the Lady Bulldog's high-powered offense, but could not come up with a bucket on the other end, ultimately going 1-for-8 from the floor after trimming the deficit to four points. With Henderson unable to get anything to fall, SWOSU salted the game away at the line, going 8-for-8 from the stripe late to escape with a 71-61 win.

The Reddies put four players in double figures and were led by Bree Bossier, who turned in a monster performance, finishing with 17 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks. Branum scored a season-high 16 points and hit four 3-pointers, while Pink Jones had 13 points and six assists. Blu Jones, who chipped in 11, was the final double-digit scorer for Henderson.

Henderson led 18-12 at the end of the first quarter and 28-27 at halftime, but SWOSU opened the third period with a 10-0 run to swing the momentum in its favor in what became the turning point of the game. The Reddies held SWOSU, who averages just over 86 points per game, to under 80 points for just the third time this season, as well as 39.7 percent shooting from the floor. HSU also out-rebounded the bigger Lady Bulldogs 41-38.

HSU returns to action on Saturday at 1 p.m. when it hosts Northwestern Oklahoma State in the Duke Wells Center.