DURANT, Okla. – Henderson State uses a dominant first half to take down Southeastern Oklahoma State 75-66 on Saturday afternoon at the Bloomer Sullivan Center.
 
HSU (17-9, 13-7) had three players reach double-figure points, led by Olivia Allen with 17 on 50.0 percent shooting and was 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Brynlee Huggins saw 16 points and seven rebounds, while Tori Gittens tallied 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Ashley Farrar dished out a career-high eight assists, and Makenna Winans led the Reddies with nine rebounds.

The red-and-grey shot 40.2 percent (23-57) from the field and 36.0 percent (9-25) from beyond the arc and were 20-25 at the free-throw line, including 9-of-10 in the final ten minutes. Henderson won the battle at the glass 41-36, and both sides finished with eight second-chance points. 
 
Two three-pointers by Allen and a pair of jumpers from Gittens in the opening three minutes of the game had Henderson leading 13-2 at 6:33 in the first period. Just minutes later, Gittens drained her first triple of the game, followed by Huggins's first three-pointer to stretch the lead to 13, 19-6. Huggins added to the Reddies advantage with two free throws to make it a 15-point game, but a 6-0 burst by the Savage Storm in the final two minutes trimmed the lead to nine, 21-12 at the end of the period.
 
Like the first ten minutes of quarter one, HSU came out in the opening minutes of the second period red hot, as Allen knocked down a three-pointer to spark a 7-0 run. After the fast start, the Reddies cooled off for the next three minutes and fifty-two seconds before a three-pointer by Huggins broke the drought at 2:55 in the period, with Henderson leading 33-19. HSU took its largest lead of the half on a 6-0 run in the last minute and a half, with baskets from Alee McClendon, Jadah Pickens and Allen, 39-22, and would lead 39-24 at the halftime buzzer.

The scoring did not let up at the start of the second half, with Farrar scoring five points in the first three minutes to grow the Reddies' advantage to 20 points. HSU continued to attack the perimeter, with a third triple from Gittens and a first by JJ Eddens to add to the lead, 56-33. A 7-0 burst by the Savage Storm cut Henderson's advantage to 12 before Winans made a jumper at the end of the quarter with HSU leading 59-45.

HSU did most of its scoring in the final period at the foul line, scoring nine of its 16 fourth-quarter points at the charity stripe. Gittens knocked down her third three-pointer in HSU's second possession of the stanza before four straight points by Huggins grew the Reddies' lead to 66-47. Six of HSU's final seven points came in a minute stretch at the free-throw line, which pushed the team back in front by 20. Southeastern would outscore Henderson 11-1 in the final sixty seconds, but the Reddies' lead proved too much as they held on to win 75-66.
 
HSU heads to Russellville, Ark. for its final road game of the season when they face Arkansas Tech on Thursday, Feb. 29 at 5:30 p.m. in the Tucker Coliseum.