ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Henderson State's Sonni Martin put on a shooting clinic in the women's first edition of the Battle of the Ravine as HSU came away with its second straight victory on the season, 71-61.
 
The Reddies for the game shot 37.1% from the 3-point line – 50% in both the first and second quarter – and an even 42% from the field as they held the lead over cross-street rival Ouachita Baptist for all but 22 seconds.
 
It was a slow start for both teams Monday evening as the scoreboard read 0-0 until just over two minutes into game time. Ouachita Baptist broke the drought at the 7:52 mark with a lay-up for the Tigers' only lead of the game. That appeared to be all the Reddies needed in order to get going as they responded with a 26-7 run, sparked by back-to-back triples from Ashley Farrar, that lasted the remainder of the first quarter as HSU was up after the first frame 26-9.
 
The Reddies played their best offense all season in that opening ten minutes, seeing their most points in a single quarter all season. HSU was able to connect on 64.7% of its shots from the field (11-17), including 50% from long range (4-8). The defense played just as well for HSU, holding Ouachita Baptist to only 16.7% shooting from the court (3-18) while getting five blocks on the Tigers.
 
Henderson State kept it up going into the second, breaking out a 13-6 run to extend its lead to 39-15 before Ouachita Baptist head coach Robert Dallimore was forced to call two timeouts within seconds of the other in order to simply slow the bleeding.
 
The Tigers were able to close the gap ever so slightly before heading into the locker room, 45-28. Sonni Martin was flirting with her career-high of 15 points in just the first half, giving her squad 14 on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting, including an impressive 4-4 from beyond-the-arc. Farrar backed up Martin with 12 points while Lani Snowden also was able to deliver on two treys for six points.
 
The second half showed the same old Martin as she continued her electric shooting, putting down two more triples for the Reddies. Sitting at 6-for-6 from three-point land, the redshirt-freshman was one made three away from the 3-point field goal percentage record of 7-7 and three away from tying the most made threes in a single game in Reddies' history with nine (9).
 
In spite of the hot shooting from HSU, Ouachita Baptist kept creeping its way back into the game with a manageable 14 point deficit staring at them going into the final quarter, 57-43.
 
Minutes into the fourth quarter, the hot-shooting Martin proved she was human as she missed her first three-pointer of the night, only to have Snowden pick up the slack with one of her three three-balls on the night. The next several minutes, however, saw OBU continue to chip away at the Reddies' lead with the tally at 62-55 in favor of HSU at the final media timeout.
 
With the game growing ever so closer, Martin had one three-pointer left in her, ending her night on a career 7-9 shooting from deep. Gracie Raby picked up an offensive rebound off a missed three from Martin a couple minutes later, turning into a Lani Snowden short jumper that all but the Tigers away as HSU regained a double digit lead, 71-61 with 40 seconds remaining.
 
That score would hold the rest of regulation as Henderson State, on the back of Martin's career-high 25 points, defeated Ouachita Baptist 71-61, moving to 3-5 on the season and 3-4 in conference.