ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Behind 23 points from Haleigh Henson and a hot-shooting second half, Henderson State erased an 18-point halftime deficit and rallied to defeat East Central 79-71 on Saturday afternoon in the Duke Wells Center.

The Reddies (17-6, 13-4) trailed by as many as 21 points in the second quarter and found themselves down 43-25 at the break to the Tigers, who held Henderson to just 30 percent shooting in the first half. However, the third quarter was a different story, as the Reddies came out firing and opened the second half on a 25-5 run to double their point total from the first half in just seven minutes and tie the game up at 50-50. ECU (7-14, 6-11) regained its footing over the remainder of the third and carried a 56-52 lead into the final period.

In the fourth, Henderson wasted no time gaining control of the game. With ECU up 58-56, Henson got open and drilled a deep 3-pointer to give the Reddies their first lead 59-58. After two free throws from Blu Jones and a Tiger bucket made it 61-60, HSU made its move, and used five-straight points from Lani Snowden and 3-pointers from both Blu Jones and Henson to take the next 11 points and quickly grab its biggest lead of the game, 72-60, with 2:12 to go. ECU tried to rally, and trimmed the lead down to just six points in the final seconds, but it was too little, too late, as the Reddies ran out the clock to seal their biggest comeback win of the year.

Henson was tremendous for Henderson, finishing with 23 points and five assists. Bree Bossier had a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds, while Snowden notched a career-high with 16 points. Estes did a little bit of everything for the Reddies and wound up with 16 rebounds, nine points and six assists on the afternoon.

ECU got off to a fast start on Saturday and opened the game on a 12-3 run, which helped to jump-start the Tigers to an 18-11 lead after one quarter. Leading 20-14 at the 8:59 mark of the second period, ECU went on another 15-0 run to take its biggest lead, 35-14, with 5:28 left before the break. Henderson out-scored the Tigers 11-8 over the remainder of the half to close the gap to 18 before mounting its huge comeback in the third.

Henderson shot 68 percent from the field in the second half and held ECU to 25.8 percent shooting in the last two quarters. The Reddies also out-rebounded a much bigger Tiger team 42-33 and hit on 7-of-14 attempts from beyond the 3-point line in the second half. HSU's 13 Great American Conference wins this season ties for the most its ever won since joining the league in 2011.

The Reddies return to action on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. against Arkansas-Monticello in the Duke Wells Center.