SEARCY, Ark. — Henderson State went toe-to-toe with Harding for three quarters on its home floor Saturday night, but the Lady Bisons used a big fourth quarter to pull away and defeat the Reddies 74-58 in the final game of the regular season for both teams.

HSU (17-11, 14-8) will be the No. 3 seed at the 2023 GAC Tournament next week in Shawnee, Oklahoma and will take on No. 6 seed Ouachita Baptist at 2:15 p.m. on Friday at FireLake Arena in the opening round of play.

Ashley Farrar finished with 22 points to lead Henderson in defeat on Saturday evening, while former Harding transfer Abbie Jiles had 13 and three 3-pointers.  

It was a cold start from the floor to begin the night for the Reddies, as they hit on just three of their 12 shots in the first quarter and trailed 18-13 after one. A 9-4 spurt, with all nine points coming from Farrar, jump-started the second for HSU and tied it at 22-22, but Harding closed the half on a 16-8 run to open up a 38-30 lead the break. Henderson shot just 29% from the floor in the first 20 minutes compared to 54% for Harding.

Jiles helped keep the Reddies within striking distance in the third quarter, as she hit two 3-pointers and finished the period with eight points. True freshman Olivia Allen added an additional spark heading into the final period when she drilled a 3-pointer just before the horn to cut the Lady Bisons lead down to 51-47. Harding was limited to just 4-for-18 shooting from the floor in the quarter.

A basket by Farrar to begin the fourth brought the Reddies within 51-49 — the closest they had been since the first half. The Lady Bisons had a response, however, and outscored HSU 20-6 over the next six minutes to open up their largest lead of the night, 71-55, with just 2:42 remaining. Henderson was just 2-for-10 from the floor during the game-deciding run in which Harding pulled away.

The Lady Bisons controlled the paint in the contest, out-scoring Henderson 44-14 inside. The Reddies shot just 30% from the field in the game.