ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – After a back-and-forth game, Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist had to go to double overtime, where the Reddies would seal the game after a layup by Jadah Pickens with eight second left to win 94-92.
 
Sam Basson made two big three-pointers down the stretch, including a triple at the buzzer of the first overtime period to extend the game and later a trey to tie the contest 84-84. Basson finished with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting and a team-high eight rebounds.
 
Pickens saw a career-high 27 points on 56.2 percent shooting and was 9-of-11 from the charity stripe. Brynlee Huggins (14), Bobbi Bazzle (10) and Tori Gittens (10) also reached double-figure points. HSU (11-6, 7-4) shot 43.7 percent from the field for the game and just 28.0 percent from deep. The Reddies saw 32 trips to the free-throw line and converted 25 attempts for a 78.1 shooting mark.
 
The Reddies held the lead in the first three minutes through Gittens, who completed a three-point play to give HSU a 5-4 advantage. Huggins extended the lead with a triple, but the Tigers controlled the next possessions, taking a 10-8 lead at the first media break. HSU and OUA traded three-pointers before Olivia Allen tied the game at 13 all at the free-throw line. Henderson struggled to get the offense going from there, as they were held scoreless for the final two minutes of the quarter, trailing 15-13.
 
Pickens tied the game at 15 all at the start of the second period and would eventually give HSU a 16-15 lead after converting the 3-point play at the foul line. The two sides traded leads before layups by Allen and Bazzle provided Henderson a 25-21 edge. The Tigers kept close with a 6-0 run, but back-to-back layups by Pickens put HSU back on top 30-27. Basson and Ashley Farrar helped break the game open, knocking down consecutive three-pointers to push the Reddies ahead 39-31 at halftime.  
 
OUA had the hot hand to start the second half, opening the stanza with a 5-0 run to trim HSU's lead to three. The Reddies struggled to get going at the start, being held scoreless for two and a half minutes before Huggins broke the drought with a jumper. Points began to fall for the Reddies as Pickens and JJ Eddens sparked a 5-0 to stretch the lead to 46-43. HSU kept a slim advantage over the Tigers, but a late basket by OUA tied the period 52 all heading into the fourth.
 
Ouachita Baptist grabbed the advantage to begin the fourth quarter, 56-52, after a 4-0 burst. The Reddies cut it to a two-point game through a Bazzle layup before both sides failed to find the basket for the next minute and thirty seconds. The pace picked up again as OUA stretched its lead to 61-57, but back-to-back baskets from Huggins tied the game 61 all with 2:56 remaining. After trading baskets, including a layup by Eddens that gave HSU the late lead, the Tigers made two shots at the charity line to send the game to overtime, 65-65.
 
HSU and OUA were tied 67 all in the first thirty seconds, and the Tigers would find separation first, taking a 71-67 lead. A three-pointer by Huggins made it a one-point game, but the Tigers continued to hold a slim edge over the Reddies 78-76. OUA made it a five-point game with 45 seconds left and would hold a three-point edge with four seconds remaining after an HSU timeout. Basson banked a three-pointer off the glass out of the break as the buzzer rang to send the game to a second overtime period, 84-84.
 
Neither side could find the basket in the first two and a half minutes as fatigue began to set in.  OUA gained the first advantage of the quarter, grabbing a 90-87 lead, and would add another basket to its edge to go ahead by five. Basson connected again from deep to tie the game 92, all with 32 seconds left, and a steal by Pickens resulted in the game-winning basket from the Conway, Ark, native to defeat Ouachita Baptist 94-92.

Henderson State (11-6, 7-4) returns to the Duke Wells Center on Saturday, Jan. 27 at 1 p.m. to host Southern Arkansas.