GAME COVERAGE LINKS
 
ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The last time the Reddies played inside the Duke Wells Center, they played their best game of 2022 in a 96-72 victory over Southern Arkansas. Henderson State will need a similar performance when it hosts the GAC-leading No. 24 Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs Thursday, Feb. 10 at 5:30 p.m.
 
REDDIES REPORT
In the victory over the Muleriders this past Saturday, the Reddie defense played one of its best games of the season, holding the highest scoring team in the conference to 72 points and 33.3% shooting from the field. Offensively, Henderson returned to its high-powered attack with four players scoring in double figures while shooting 50.7% from the field as a unit.
 
After a brief scoring slump where Ashley Farrar scored less than 10 points in three straight games, the 17.3 points per game scorer has logged three consecutive double-digit outings, two of which were 20-plus point performances. In addition to the elite scoring ability exhibited, Farrar is shooting a career best 82.8% from the free-throw line this season, which is eighth best in the league.
 
In addition to Farrar, Karrington Whaley (10.8), Gracie Raby (10.8) and Lani Snowden (10.0) are each averaging either at or more than 10 points per game. Henderson is the only team in the GAC to have four players averaging 10 or more points. In HSU's last game against Ouachita Baptist, Whaley flirted with her season-high of 24 points, going for 22 Monday evening.
 
After falling at the buzzer to OBU on Monday, the Reddies find themselves in seventh place in the conference standings at 8-8 in league play. With the three teams above them in the standings a half-game ahead and the two teams behind them a half-game behind, these final six games will be critical, beginning with the nationally ranked Bulldogs Thursday.
 
In the season's first matchup, Henderson hung around early before the Bulldogs used a 21-11 third quarter to pull away for the eventual 99-78 win in Weatherford, Oklahoma. Maci Mains saw a season-high 22 points and five assists, yet HSU as a team was limited to just three offensive boards the entire game, getting out-rebounded, 49-31.     
 
SCOUTING SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA ST.
Coming into Thursday's matchup ranked 24th in the nation in the most recent Women's Basketball Coaches Association poll, Southwestern Oklahoma St. sits atop the GAC with a conference record of 13-2 and an overall record of 19-4. The No. 24 Bulldogs are currently sporting a four-game winning streak.
 
While being undefeated at home, SWOSU is 6-3 on the road – two of which came against conference opponents Northwestern Oklahoma St. and Harding. In those games, the Lady Rangers and the Lady Bisons held Southwestern to under 29% shooting from beyond-the-arc. Both single-digit contests also showed the Bulldogs shooting worse than 64% from the free-throw line.
 
Southwestern boasts one of the best offense in the conference at 82.3 points per game (2nd) while also being Top-5 in scoring defense, holding opponents to 66.0 ppg. Individually, Makyra Tramble is averaging 20.2 points per game while her and Macy Gore are top two in the league with 5.2 and 4.2 assists per game, respectively.   
 
What To Watch For…
-Southwestern will be the first nationally ranked squad to come into the Duke Wells Center this season. The last time Henderson hosted a Top-25 team was Feb. 20, 2021 when No. 14 Arkansas Tech came to town. The Reddies won, 90-86.
 
-Lani Snowden is 20 points away from becoming the second Reddie this season to register 1000 career points. Karrington Whaley logged her thousandth point against East Central earlier this season. With 980 career points, Snowden needs 20 more over the final six games of the season to reach the millennial mark.
 
-Karrington Whaley continued making history after scoring 1000 points as the Springdale, Arkansas, native now has 1065 career points, good enough for twelfth on the all-time scoring list in program history. Whaley needs 10 points to pass Aesha Carter (1074) for 11th and 16 points if she wants to crack the Top-10 (Saprina Reed, 1080).