ADA, Oklahoma – For the second game in a row, Henderson State trailed going into the fourth quarter before mounting a far-fetched comeback to claim victory. This time, the victim was the East Central Tigers as the Reddies trailed the majority of the fourth period before free-throws put the HSU over the top, 63-57.
 
Lani Snowden led all scorers with 17 points, including connecting on five of her six three-pointer attempts. As a team, Henderson shot 41.2% (7-17) from downtown. The Reddies were also superb from the free-throw line as they hit 18-of-22 freebies, led by Maci Mains who converted on all six of her attempts, all of which came in the fourth quarter.
 
Henderson and East Central were nearly identical in major categories on the afternoon as both teams turned the ball over only nine times while HSU grabbed 41 rebounds to ECU's 42. Abbie Jiles was the main catalyst for the Reddies' rebounding efforts, snagging a season-high 10 boards.
 
Snowden got busy quickly inside the Kerr Activities Center Saturday afternoon, scoring six of Henderson's first 10 points to race out to the early 10-4 lead. A 9-4 run from ECU brought it back to 13-13 and again at 15-15 before another Snowden triple just before the first-quarter buzzer sounded gave HSU the 18-15 advantage heading into the second quarter.
 
After a 1-for-2 trip at the charity stripe for East Central, back-to-back three-pointers from the Reddies was met by back-to-back treys from the Tigers as play stood at 24-24 with a little over seven minutes remaining in the opening half.
 
After a near three and half minutes scoring drought from both teams, a Karrington Whalay lay-up was met with two more triples from the Tigers as ECU closed the half on a 6-0 run, taking a four-point advantage into the locker room, 30-26.
 
Both squads were feeling it from downtown through the first 20 minutes as HSU shot 5-11 (45.5%) from deep while East Central 6-12 (50%) from long range. The Tigers had made one more three-pointer than HSU and one more field goal at 11 to 10 to justify the four-point lead.
 
Not two minutes into the second half did HSU deliver one of the seven ties, 32-32. Snowden gave the Reddies a brief two-point lead moments later before ECU opened things up a bit with a 7-0 run to see its largest lead of the game up to that point at 39-34.
 
That lead grew to six before Henderson delivered a run of its own, seeing a five-run spurt to close the period, with a Snowden triple for the exclamation point, as play moved to the final 10 minutes with ECU holding the 41-10 lead.
 
Through the first half of the fourth, the Tigers maintained a three point lead as HSU was only able to get points at the free-throw line, to which East Central would respond to with a jumper of its own. As she had been all night, Snowden delivered a trey with 4:19 left to play to bring the score to a deadlock at 51-51 that finally allowed the visiting Reddies to break through.
 
After a jumper from ECU, four straight free-throws courtesy of Mains and Ashley Farrar finally put Henderson ahead, 55-53. A Whaley lay-up and two more Mains free-throws later, the HSU lead opened up to six, 59-53. The Tiger offense failed to make any more dents in the Reddie lead thanks to a perfect free-throw performance over the final minute of the contest as Henderson took the eventual win, 63-57.
 
With Southeastern having lost tonight, the victory clinches a spot in the 2022 GAC Women's Basketball Championships for Henderson, who currently sits in sixth with an 11-9 conference record. Northwestern Oklahoma St. and East Central, who are both just above the Reddies in the standings, are also 11-9.
 
Henderson St. (16-10, 11-9) will play one more road game when it heads to Russellville, Arkansas, to face Arkansas Tech Thursday, Feb. 24 before hosting Harding for senior day Saturday, Feb. 26.