ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – After end-to-end action, No. 17 Harding pulls away in the second half to defeat Henderson State 92-84 at the Duke Wells Center on Saturday afternoon. 
 
Ashley Farrar finished off her final home game with 24 points on 7-of-14 shooting and was 8-10 from the foul line with seven rebounds. Jadah Pickens followed with 17 points on 50.0 percent shooting, while Tori Gittens, Brynlee Huggins and Olivia Allen each had nine. HSU finished the game with a 43.8 percent shooting mark from the field and shot 36.8 percent from beyond the arc.
 
HSU (17-11, 13-9) will now turn its attention to the 2024 GAC Tournament hosted at FireLake Arena in Shawnee, Okla., where they will face No. 5 seed Arkansas in the first round on Friday at 5:45 p.m.

Harding wasted no time taking the lead in the opening moments of the first period, charging ahead to a 13-2 lead. The Reddies settled in with a three-pointer by Farrar before Huggins knocked down a tripe during a 6-0 run to cut the Lady Bisons advantage to 17-13. HSU grabbed late momentum and outscored HU 7-1 in the final three minutes to tie the game 20-all.
 
The first three minutes of the second period saw three ties before the two sides traded leads, with HSU on top by one, 31-30, with 5:42 left. The Lady Bisons tied the contest again and would jump in front 36-31 following a 6-0 stretch. Back-to-back baskets from Sam Basson and Pickens cut the lead to one, but Harding would grow its advantage back out to 41-35. Like the first period, HSU had a strong end to the quarter with a 7-0 run capped off by a three-point play from Farrar to give the Reddies a one-point lead at halftime, 42-41.

The first half saw five different lead changes and was scored seven times. Farrar led the scoring for Henderson in the first twenty minutes with 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting, while the team shot 48.5 percent for the half.
 
HSU and HU traded leads in the early possessions of the third period, and the Reddies would soon hold a four-point edge after a three-pointer from JJ Eddens. Harding went back in front  56-51 on a 9-0 run and would later stretch its lead to 60-53. Baskets by Farrar and Allen cut it to a six-point contest, but four straight points by the Lady Bisons at the end of the quarter gave them a 68-58 lead through three periods.
 
Harding took its largest lead of the game in the first minute of the fourth quarter after scoring five straight points, 73-59. The Reddies quickly cut it to a five-point game on a 7-0 run, featuring back-to-back triples from Basson and Gittens. HSU continued to chip away at the lead with baskets from Pickens and Farrar and would soon cut it to a one-point game after Pickens went 4-4 at the foul line on two trips.
 
The Lady Bisons again created a gap on a 6-0 run to get back in front by seven with 2:54 left in the game. A three-pointer by Allen and two more free throws by Pickens trimmed it to 85-81, but HU retook control, outscoring HSU 7-3 in the last minute to hold on to the win.