ALVA, Oklahoma – Both Henderson State and Northwestern Oklahoma State were sporting four-game winning streaks and looking for a fifth. It was the home team who continued its winning ways as the Reddies came up short in Alva, Oklahoma, 84-78.
 
With 78 points, this Henderson team became the fastest team to score 1000 points of any HSU team since the turn of the century. Through 12 games, the Reddies have scored 1014 points. Leading the scoring all season has been Ashley Farrar, who once again led all Henderson scorers with 23 points, all of which came in the second half.
 
The battle for a fifth consecutive win started off slow for both teams, with Northwestern scoring seven of the next nine points after HSU scored the first four points of the game to hold the slight 7-6 advantage at the first media timeout. The scoring starting to come following the game's first pause in action.
 
With 13 total points scored in the first five minutes, both squads put up 19 points the rest of the way, with 12 coming from the home team. With Henderson retaking a 13-12 lead, Northwestern, led by reigning GAC Player of the Week Scout Frame and her 10 first quarter points, closed the opening frame on a 7-0 run to see the 19-13 lead.
 
The Lady Rangers kept it up in the second, opening an 11-point advantage, 33-22, at the second-quarter media timeout. With two more points from Frame out of the break, HSU was able to put together a five-point spurt off a Sonni Martin three to cut the lead to single-digits, 35-27.
 
In similar fashion to the way the first quarter ended, Northwestern once more opened up a double-digit lead with the final four points of the half, going to the locker room up 39-27 on the visiting Reddies. With the fewest points scored in a first half this season, HSU needed to conjure up some offense in the final 20 minutes.
 
In a span of 90 seconds, Henderson did just that as back-to-back threes from Farrar fueled a 10-2 run to open the second half and cut the lead to four, 41-37. After slimming down the lead once more to 45-42, Karrington Whaley picked up her third foul right before the third media.
 
Northwestern took advantage of Whaley's absence due to her foul trouble, putting together a 12-2 run and putting HSU back out of range. After a Farrar lay-up with five seconds left cut the lead back to nine, a buzzer-beating shot from Lady Ranger Bailey Brown extended the lead to 11, 59-48, with the game heading to the final 10 minutes.
 
With neither team able to affect the margin much, Jill Thomas called a timeout with the scoreboard reading 66-55 in favor of NWOSU. Henderson was able to cut it back to single digits, but that was as far as it would get, with the Reddies falling, 84-78.
 
Henderson State (9-3, 4-2) will remain in the Sooner State until Saturday, when it faces the GAC-leading Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs at 1 p.m. in a battle of the top two teams in the conference.