BARTLESVILLE, Okla. — Cold shooting down the stretch doomed Henderson State on Saturday night, as the Reddies went scoreless in the last four minutes of regulation and shot just 2-for-11 in overtime, and fell to No. 1 seed Southeastern Oklahoma State 87-84 in the GAC semifinals.
The loss ends the season for the Reddies (20-10), who finish just seconds shy of their first GAC Championship game appearance.
Pink Jones was phenomenal in her final college game and finished with 23 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds — just one board shy of a triple-double. Blu Jones and Hailey Estes also scored in double figures in the last contests of their careers, as Jones scored 13 points and Estes turned in 11 and 15 rebounds.
Henderson led 42-39 at the break in the semifinal and held a lead of as many as 10 points early in the second quarter. The Reddies shot 50% from the floor in the half and were buoyed by 14 points and six assist in 20 minutes from Pink Jones.
With SOSU up 55-53 and 2:23 left in the third, the Reddies put together a big run to build momentum, and closed the quarter on a 9-2 run to seize a 64-57 advantage heading into the game's final 10 minutes. Lani Snowden hit two 3-pointers to spur the big stretch for HSU.
Southeastern responded to begin the fourth quarter and scored the first seven points of the period to quickly erase the deficit and tie the game at 64-64 with 8:30 to go. It looked as though Henderson had regained its footing at the 4:34 mark when a layup from Snowden gave the Reddies a 77-71 lead, but HSU went scoreless after the basket for the next four minutes as SOSU went back in front 79-77 with 29 seconds left.
Needing to score to stay alive, the Reddies finally did when Blu Jones got a driving layup to drop with 10.6 seconds remaining to tie the game at 79-79. Henderson's defense stood tall on the final trip down for Southeastern and the contest moved into extra time.
The cold shooting persisted in overtime for HSU. The Savage Storm scored the first four points of the period and although the Reddies did rally to go back in front 84-83 on a three-point play from Estes at the 1:41 mark, it would be their last points of the game. Henderson was 0-for-5 in the last 1:41 and SOSU ended on a 4-0 run to hold on and win it.
The Reddies hit nine 3-pointers and out-rebounded the Savage Storm 47-37 in the game, but shot just 4-for-19 from the field in the final 9:54 of the contest.
