SEARCY, Ark. –  Henderson State falls to the Lady Bisons of Harding on the road 80-62 at the Rhodes-Reaves Field House in the final game of 2023.
 
HSU (6-4, 2-2) will break for the holidays and return after the new year on Saturday, Jan. 4 at 5:30 p.m., when they host Southern Nazarene.
 
Three Reddies saw double-digit points, led by Ashley Farrar with 16 points, followed by Natalie Cardenas and JJ Eddens with 13 and 10, respectively. Bobbi Bazzle led the team at the glass, recording a team-high 11 rebounds, while Eddens tallied eight. Henderson finished the contest, shooting 33.8 percent from the field and 26.3 percent from beyond the arc, and were outrebounded 55-to-39.
 
A back-and-forth start saw the Reddies leading 5-4 in the first minute and a half after Cardenas knocked down a triple. From there, it was all Harding, as the Lady Bisons went on an 11-0 burst to take the lead 15-5. Four points by Olivia Allen and a three-point play by Cardenas trimmed Harding's advantage to 20-12 at the end of the first period.
 
Tori Gittens knocked down a three-pointer in HSU's first possession of the second quarter to cut the deficit to five, but Lady Bisons replied, rattling off seven straight points to take a double-digit lead. The Reddies kept within striking distance of the Lady Bisons through a 7-0 burst and a three-point play by Farrar to get within six, 32-26. Harding controlled the final four and a half minutes of the period, building a 50-28 lead at halftime after an 18-2 run. 

The Reddies opened the third quarter with a 6-0 burst sparked by back-to-back layups from Farrar. HSU continued to chip away at Harding's lead after a 7-0 run, featuring a three-pointer by Brynlee Huggins, as Henderson trailed 56-42. A pair of baskets by Eddens in the final two minutes of the quarter closed out the scoring for HSU, as they trailed 62-46 after three periods. The two sides traded early scores to start the fourth stanza, but Harding would remain in control for the rest of the quarter to win 80-62.