SHAWNEE, Oklahoma – Henderson State's 2022 GAC Women's Basketball Championships run was halted by the No. 1 seed and No. 16 nationally ranked Southwestern Oklahoma State Lady Bulldogs Saturday evening inside FireLake Arena, 89-73.
 
All-GAC Second-Teamer Ashley Farrar closed her season with a bang, putting up a season-high 31 points on 10-of-16 shooting, 4-6 from deep, while also going a perfect 7-7 at the free-throw line. Farrar ends her season shooting 82.6% from the charity stripe, marking the sixth greatest single season free-throw shooting percentage in program history.  
 
Play was neck-and-neck through the early going, with both semifinal squads trading baskets to open play. Southwestern was able to open an eight-point lead at the under-five media before a Jadah Pickens and-1 followed by a Pickens triple sparked a 15-4 run to close the quarter for the Reddies as they held a 20-18 lead after one.
 
Quarter number two is where the Lady Bulldogs began to pull away. After both teams had scored six points through the first minute and a half of the second period to bring the tally to 26-24 in favor of HSU, a seven-point spurt from the GAC's number one seed reestablished a five point lead for Southwestern, 31-26.
 
Free-throws down the stretch of the opening half was all the Reddies had to rely on to keep them in the game as the designated visiting team missed 11 of its final 13 field-goals of the opening half to trail at the break, 40-33. First-half shooting percentages were nearly identical, with the biggest different coming at the free-throw line, where SWOSU shot seven more freebies, hitting 12 compared to Henderson's six.  
 
With the game within HSU's grasp at halftime, an 18-4 rebounding margin in the third quarter allowed SWOSU to win the third 10-minute stint, 24-13, to establish an 18-point lead heading into the final quarter. The conference's leading three-point shooting percentage team went 0-5 from beyond the arc to the Lady Bulldogs' gain.
 
Henderson opened the final quarter on a quick 5-2 run to cut the deficit to 15 in hopes of putting together a last-ditch run, but the No. 16 nationally ranked Lady Bulldogs kept pace the rest of the way, advancing to the GAC Championship game on the backs of a 89-73 victory.
 
Henderson St. closes its 2021-22 season with its second GAC Tournament semifinal trip in three years after posting an 18-10, 13-9 regular season record. The Reddies closed the regular season on a five-game winning streak to lay claim of the fourth seed in the conference postseason championships, including three straight victories away from the Duke Wells Center.