ARKADELPHIA -- Henderson State is coming off of six straight wins as the Reddies take the short trip across Highway 7 tonight to face Ouachita Baptist in the basketball season's first installment of the Battle of the Ravine at Bill Vining Arena.
The Reddies (10-4, 6-2 in Great American Conference) blew out Arkansas-Monticello Saturday, shooting for 50 percent from the field in the 69-47 win. Henderson State opened the game on an 11-0 run before settling for a 13-8 opening quarter that the Reddies stretched to 35-18 at the break, adding 34 in the second half while allowing 29 to cruise to a sixth-straight victory.
The Reddies hit 12 of 28 from distance all night, 42.9 percent, while shooting 13-for-26 each half. They collected 13 points off turnovers as well as six second-chance points as they led from start to finish.
The Cotton Blossoms averaged 34.7 percent from the field, 17 of 49, while hitting but one of 13 distance shots, but they had more opportunities at the line, hitting 12 of 17, 70.6 percent, while the Reddies sank 5 of 7, 71.4 percent.
"We are excited about the defense our team is playing right now," said Reddies head coach Jill Thomas. "I think they are doing a really good job of buying into what we want to do each scout, being able to make some adjustments. Offensively, things were flowing really well.
"We hit 12 threes in that game, so we were shooting the ball really well. In our offense, if we're flowing like that, we are really dangerous because we have the ability to score at multiple different positions. When both ends are connecting in one game, it's a really good sign for us."
The Reddies are averaging 71.5 points per game while allowing 63.5 while out-rebounding opponents on average by 1.4 boards per game.
"I think that goes to our kids really buying in this year," Thomas said. "Offensively, we are really good right now and doing what we need to do to be successful.
The Tigers (8-6, 4-4) are coming off of an 84-56 loss at Harding Saturday. The Lady Bisons jumped out 11-0 to open the game while hitting 6 of 8 from 3-point range in the opening period. They cruised to a 25-15 lead before pushing out to a 44-28 halftime buffer.
"They played well, and we didn't," said Tigers head coach Garry Crowder. "We knew Harding was a sleeping giant. They started the season ranked third in the nation, and they have certainly not been playing very well. They whipped us pretty good. They just shot the ball well above what they have been doing from the 3-point line. We felt like we defended their interior very well."
Crowder said Harding thrives inside with freshman Kellie Lampo, of Jessieville. He said the Lady Bisons were able to combine their inside game with a good night shooting from the perimeter.
"I was not disappointed, defensively, in what we did," Crowder said. "We felt like we guarded their interior well, and they had some things that occurred for them that hadn't normally happened. We felt like we've got to be a lot better offensively. We had no transition game offensively at all and just didn't execute the half-court very well."
The Tigers started off the season with a pair of wins before falling in three consecutive road matchups.
"We didn't have Kori Bullard, one of our top players, for those first four games because she was in volleyball," Crowder said. "We were not disappointed at all losing three of those first four. In fact, we lost to Southwestern Oklahoma in our first conference game by two points. They haven't lost a game all year in the league. We had them down 10 with four minutes to go."
Ouachita reeled off five straight wins at home with Bullard back in the lineup. The Tigers are just 2-3 since the holiday break.
"We have had some extremely good above-normal shooting nights against us," Crowder said. "It's not like we are a bad defensive team; we were leading the conference in field goal percentage defense and scoring defense up until the game at Harding the other night. It's not like we're a weak defensive team."
Taylor Bowles, a senior guard from Avery, Texas, led the team in scoring with 11.7 per game in nine games before she went down with a knee injury.
Thomas, in her fifth year coaching the Reddies, knows everything goes out the window when it comes to a rivalry game.
"Like we told our kids, 'The records don't ever play in on this game,'" she said. "It doesn't matter who's top, who's bottom, who's middle of the pack. You put all of that aside because its such a highly-charged energy game. You've got to be ready to compete. It's a competitor's game."
Thomas said no other opponents run the same, complex offense as Ouachita. She said the Tigers will have to be ready to compete for all 40 minutes in, defensively, "our toughest assignment yet."
A year ago, the Reddies squeezed out a 75-74 road win at Bill Vining Arena, but the Tigers rolled to a 77-58 win at Duke Wells Arena.
"Our kids have done a pretty good job in the past against OBU," Thomas said. "The last game, we did not. That was a quick reminder for them. That was another situation where it does not matter what the records are. You have to be ready to go.
Crowder, in his 40th year coaching the Tigers after a 13-year tenure at Jessieville, knows the Reddies are a strong shooting team, hitting 42.4 percent from the field and 35.3 percent from distance.
"They are playing extremely well," Crowder said. "They are really a perimeter-oriented team. They have tremendous shooters all over the floor. Especially with the fact that we've had people really hurt us behind the arc, we are going to have to really be conscious of that and make sure that we get out on the shooters. We have got to make those guards put the ball on the floor and not get those catch-and-shoot threes."
Crowder said Henderson is much improved defensively. He said Ouachita will have to execute well to keep up with the Reddies.
Henderson State
Player Pts. Rebs.
G-Pink Jones 5-9 sophomore 15.5 4.8
G-Hailey Estes 5-8 sophomore 10.9 9.2
G-Haleigh Henson 5-6 senior 13.7 1.8
G-Torrie Thompson 5-7 junior 11.1 4.2
F-Bree Bossier 6-0 senior 7.6 5.5
Ouachita Baptist
G-Maija Gertsone 5-6 freshman 4.2 1.3
G-Madison Brittain 6-0 sophomore 8.7 3.2
G-Morgan Miller 5-10 senior 9.1 5.4
G-Chasidee Owens 5-11 sophomore 9.2 5.2
F-Kori Bullard 6-2 senior 6.8 5.0
Sports on 01/16/2018