MAGNOLIA -- Henderson State held Southern Arkansas to just 11 first-half points on Thursday evening and cruised past the Lady Muleriders, 63-42, in the Great American Conference opener for both teams.
Karrington Whaley led all scorers with 16 points and also added eight rebounds, while Hailey Estes had 13 points and nine boards. Freshman Maci Mains made Henderson's offense finished with nine assists in her first GAC contest.
The Reddies (4-1) wasted no time getting out to an early advantage on the road, as their defense suffocated SAU in the opening quarter. The Lady Muleriders (1-4) were 0-for-11 shooting in the period and held scoreless as Henderson jumped in front, 17-0, through 10 minutes of play.
The lead ballooned for Henderson in the second quarter to 27-4 after buckets from Estes and Whaley, but Southern Arkansas found a couple of baskets just before the break to close the deficit to 30-11 heading into the locker room.
Henderson opened up a lead of as much as 29 points in the second half en route to a comfortable first win of the GAC season.
The Reddies held the Lady Muleriders to just 29.6 percent shooting from the floor. Henderson also outrebounded Southern Arkansas, 37-26, as the host team was just 3-for-25 from the 3-point line.
Southern Arkansas freshman guard Ariana Guinn, of Hot Springs, sat out the game with an injury. The Lady Muleriders will play on the road today at 5:30 p.m. in Searcy against Harding (5-1, 1-0).
The Reddies' next game is today at 1 p.m. when they take on Arkansas Tech (3-2, 1-0) at Tucker Coliseum. They are searching for their first win in Russellville since the 2005-06 season.
Estes lead Henderson with 17.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. She is currently fourth in the GAC in rebounding and seventh in scoring.
Pink Jones is 20th in the conference in scoring with 16 points per game to go with 4.2 assists, which ranks third in the GAC. Whaley leads the team in shooting percentage at 65.3 percent and is fifth in the league overall.
Henderson was 1-2 against Arkansas Tech last season. The Reddies got their first win over the Golden Suns since 2014 in the first meeting in Arkadelphia, but Arkansas Tech won the rematch in Russellville and then knocked Henderson out of the conference tournament in Bartlesville, Okla.
Sophomore guard Jacie Higgins leads Arkansas Tech with 12.4 points per game. She is followed by fellow sophomore guard Jayana Sanders with 11 points and 3.8 assists per game.
The Golden Suns lost their first two games by a combined 47 points, then they won their next two games by a combined 148 points.
Men
Henderson's men could not find their shooting strokes Thursday night in a 94-71 loss to Southern Arkansas.
The Reddies (4-1, 0-1) shot just 39.4 percent from the field in the loss and were outrebounded for the first time this season, 42-26. Southern Arkansas (6-1, 1-0) hit 12 3-pointers while shooting 50 percent for the game.
Chris Parker led Henderson with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Raekwon Rogers had 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds. The rest of the team shot 13-for-44, 22.8 percent, from the field.
The Muleriders got out to an early 18-10 lead on their home court, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Parker helped spur an 8-0 Reddies' run which tied the game at 18-18 with just under 12 minutes left in the opening period.
From that point on, it was all Southern Arkansas. The Muleriders answered with an 11-0 run and eventually took a 45-33 advantage into the break.
The margin never got any closer than 12 points the rest of the way. The Reddies went cold from the field to start the second half, allowing Southern Arkansas to slowly pull away and coast to the win.
Henderson will be back in action today against Arkansas Tech (2-3, 0-1) in Russellville. The Reddies will attempt to avoid their first 0-2 start in conference play since the 2015-16 season when they opened 0-3 in Jimmy Elgas' first season at the helm.
Two of Henderson's nine GAC wins last season came against Arkansas Tech. The Reddies defeated the Wonder Boys, 106-96, in Arkadelphia, then won, 83-75, in Russellville. The season sweep was Henderson's first against Arkansas Tech since 2006-07
Henderson is ninth in the GAC in scoring offense with 79.8 points per game and fifth in scoring defense at 72.5 points. The Reddies have the second-best 3-point percentage defense in the conference and have allowed opponents to connect on just 31.6 percent, 50 of 158, of tries from beyond the arc this season.
Sophomore guard R.J. Glasper leads the Wonder Boys with 22.8 points per game, which is third-most in the GAC, and also averages a team-high 5.8 assists. Glasper transferred from Arkansas before last season and was the 2017-18 GAC Freshman of the Year.
Arkansas Tech averages a league-best 41.6 boards per game, but the team is last in the GAC in rebounding defense, allowing 38.1 per game. The Wonder Boys have shot 186 3-pointers in five games at a 33.7-percent clip. They shot 43 3-pointers on Thursday and made 17 in an 86-81 loss at Ouachita Baptist (4-1, 1-0).
Sports on 12/01/2018