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ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – After winning its first conference game in Oklahoma on the season, Henderson State looks to win the second game of this two-game road trip and move that much closer to a GAC Tournament bid against East Central in Ada, Oklahoma, Saturday, Feb. 19. Tip-off inside the Kerr Activities Center is set for 1 p.m.  
 
REDDIES REPORT
Henderson pulled off a massive comeback on Thursday in Durant, Oklahoma, when it outscored Southeastern Oklahoma St. 27-11 in the fourth quarter to take the eventual outcome, 57-49. The Reddies scored 24 points in the final seven minutes and 40 seconds of regulation after only scoring 33 points the initial 32:20 of game time.    
 
Ashley Farrar scored a team-high 13 points, all of which came in the second half. Both her and Sonni Martin each hit a pair of treys in the final period to fuel the rally as Martin ended the night with 12 points on four three-pointers. Both players dished out three assists while Farrar pulled down six boards to Martin's five.
 
After losing five of six contests and risking falling out of the GAC's Top-8 and missing the GAC Tournament, HSU has now won back-to-back games and currently sits at fifth in the conference standings at 10-9. Henderson still could end up anywhere from four to eight with Arkansas Tech and ECU both having 10-9 conference records and Oklahoma Baptist only a game out at 9-10.
 
With a win and a Southeastern loss on Saturday, the Reddies will clinch a berth in the 2022 GAC Championships as that will put three games between HSU and ninth-place Southeastern with only two games remaining. In the situation of a tie, Henderson holds the tiebreaker after defeating the Savage Storm in both meetings this season.
 
In the first meeting between the Reddies and the Tigers, Henderson shot just 27.3% (6-22) from three as it fell to East Central inside the Duke Wells Center, 76-71. Both Farrar and Karrington Whaley came through with 20 points, followed by Martin with 13. In that contest, there were 14 lead changes with neither team holding more than a four-point lead through the first half.  
 
SCOUTING EAST CENTRAL
So far, 2022 has been a roller coaster of winning streaks and droughts for the East Central Tigers. After kicking off the new year going 5-1, ECU lost four straight over the last week of January and the first week of February. Since then, the Tigers are in the midst of a four-game winning streak, having beaten Ouachita Baptist most recently, 66-50.
 
In the course of this winning streak, the defense, which has been East Central's calling card all season, has been elite. They have held all four of their opponents to fewer than 63 points, three of which were held under 60. Three of the four opponents shot worse than 28% from three, courtesy of the GAC's third-ranked scoring defense (64.5 points per game).
 
As was the case with Southeastern, East Central is led by the 1-2 punch of Madison Rehl and Mackenzie Crusoe, who are averaging 13.4 and 13.1 points per game, respectively. After them, the Tigers are getting 9.6 ppg from Emily Wilson. In the first meeting, Crusoe exploded for 25 points while Rehl and Wilson combined for 31.  
 
What To Watch For…
-Getting two conference wins in a single Oklahoma road trip has been tough to come by over recent years. The last time Henderson St. won both games in the Sooner State on a two-game road trip was during the 2017-18 season. Jill Thomas' squad did it twice that season, once of which came against Southeastern and East Central.
 
-Karrington Whaley used 12 rebounds on Thursday to get within four rebounds of Dulincia Keener (800) for the second most career rebounds in program history. Whaley needs five rebounds on Saturday to pass Keener after passing Saprina Reed (1080) for tenth on the all-time scoring list this past Thursday.