EMPORIA, Kan. – Henderson State women's basketball opens the 2023-24 season with an 80-67 win over Emporia State in the first of two games in the GAC/MIAA Conference Challenge from Emporia, Kan.
HSU (1-0) shot 45.9 percent from the floor and 37.9 percent from beyond the arc and outrebounded ESU 44-39 at the glass.
Ashley Farrar picked up where she left off last season, leading the team with 26 points on 52.9 percent shooting from the field and finished 6-10 from the three-point line.
In their debuts for the Reddies,
Natalie Cardenas scored 21 points, shooting 38.5 percent from the field, while
Tori Gittens shot 8-8 from the field and 2-2 from beyond the arc for 18 points. Gittens also finished tied with newcomer
Makenna Winans for a team-high nine rebounds.
A defensive struggle in the opening period made points hard to come by as Henderson State led 2-0 at the first break with 4:51 on the clock. After the HSU timeout, Emporia State tied the game at two all before Farrar made her first basket of the contest, connecting from beyond the arc to give the Reddies a 5-2 lead. Gittens and
JJ Eddens combined in the final two minutes to put HSU ahead 9-5 at the end of the opening period.
Following the cagey start, points began to flow in the second stanza as Gittens made three baskets for six points in the first three minutes of the period. Farrar dialed in from deep, making two threes to stretch the Reddies' lead to ten, 24-14.
After a dominant opening five minutes by HSU in the second period, Emporia State took control on a 9-0 run followed by a 5-0 stretch to grab its first lead of the game, 28-26. The Reddies trailed 32-29 at the halftime whistle as Cardenas made a three-pointer as time expired.
Momentum stayed with the Lady Hornets to start the second half, as ESU opened the third period on a 7-0 run to extend its lead to 39-31. HSU found its footing in the frame through Farrar, who scored seven straight points and would later make her second triple of the period to regain the lead 46-42. Late pressure by ESU saw them cut HSU's lead to one before
Olivia Allen scored the final basket of the quarter to keep the Reddies in front 53-50.
Henderson State opened the final period with an 11-point lead after Gittens connected with back-to-back threes to stretch the team's advantage to 61-50. Emporia State cut down the Reddies' edge to 67-60, but Farrar and Cardenas made a pair of baskets to reestablish a double-digit lead, 71-60. In control, Cardenas would score seven of the team's final nine points to open the season with an 80-67 win.
Henderson State (1-0) wraps up its stay in Emporia, Kan., when they face Missouri Southern at 11 a.m. in the final game of the 2023-24 GAC/MIAA Conference Challenge.
