ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Maci Mains poured in a career-high 38 points and Jadah Pickens scored 15 of her 17 in the second half to help Henderson State outlast Harding 82-80 on Thursday night in the Duke Wells Center. The win pushed the Reddies in front of the Lady Bisons into second place the GAC standings with one regular season game remaining.

Mains was the story for HSU as the junior from Har-Ber High School finished with a career-high 38 on 12-of-25 shooting from the floor. She had 19 in the first half and 15 in the fourth quarter. Pickens, after scoring just two in the first 20 minutes, was 8-for-10 from the line and 3-of-3 from the field in the last two quarters. 

Henderson led 36-31 at the  after going on a 12-1 run to end the first half. A quick 6-0 Harding run to open the third helped the Lady Bisons regain a 37-36 advantage and it was an absolute back-and-forth battle from the point on. Nothing separated the teams in the third quarter and the game entered the final period with the score knotted at 55-55.

The lead exchanged hands five times in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, but changed for the last time with 5:03 remaining on a layup from Mains that gave the Reddies a 69-67 advantage. 

A clutch transition 3-pointer from Lani Snowden on the next trip down extended the lead to 72-67 for HSU to match their largest cushion of the quarter. Harding would not go away and got two 3-pointers from Kylee Coulter in the span of a minute to come roaring back and tie the game at 75-75 with 3:07 to go. 

With the game and GAC Tournament implications hanging in the balance, Main took over. The Springdale native got a driving layup to go with 2:26 remaining to regain the lead for HSU and then, after two scoreless minutes by both sides and with the clock ticking down, came off of a screen from Karrington Whaley and buried a mid-range jumper with 16 seconds left to put the Reddies up 79-75.

An old-fashioned 3-point play from Carissa Caples in the waning seconds made things interesting for Harding, but three free throws from Snowden helped close it out as Henderson held on for its second win over the year over the Lady Bisons.

Mains and Pickens scored 21 of HSU's 27 fourth quarter points in the victory and combined to go 18-of-21 at the free throw line on the night. Mains' 38 points was the most for any GAC player since 2019 and made her one of just four NCAA DII players this season to score 35 or more points in multiple games.

Henderson can clinch the No. 2 seed and a first round bye in next week's GAC Tournament on Saturday when it travels to Monticello, Arkansas to face UAM in the final game of the regular season at 2 p.m.