KANSAS CITY — Winona State shot 53.1% from the floor on Saturday afternoon and knocked off Henderson State 79-62 in the Reddies' 2021-22 season opener.

HSU was led in the game by Franck Kamgain, who scored 11 points off the bench. Andre Washington added nine points and seven rebounds for Henderson.

The Warriors controlled the game from the start and jumped out to a 12-5 lead at the first media timeout. The Reddies stayed within striking distance for the next several minutes, but with HSU down 23-15, Winona State went on a 9-1 run to seize a 32-16 lead at the 9:15 mark of the opening half.

Henderson began to chip away and got five quick points from Alvin Miles to trim the deficit down to 32-23 with a 7-0 run. WSU countered over the remainder of the half, however, and outscored the Reddies 19-10 over the last seven minutes to take a commanding 51-33 advantage into the break. Winona shot 64.3% from the floor in the first 20 minutes and was 7-of-14 from beyond the arc.

The start of the second period was more of the same from the Warriors, who opened up their lead to 25 points with 14:34 remaining. Henderson continued to battle, and cut the lead down to 15 with just under four minutes to play, but the hole was too deep and the Reddies fell in their first DII game of the year.

The Reddies won the turnover battle and committed just nine in the season opener. HSU got 39 points from its bench and 10 different players scored for Henderson.

HSU will look to get back in the win column tomorrow at 4:15 p.m. when it faces Missouri Western on the second day of the Central Region Challenge.