ARKADELPHIA – Henderson State junior Maci Mains scored a career-high 38 points to lead the Reddies to an 82-80 victory over Harding on Thursday at the Duke Wells Center in Great American Conference women's basketball action.
The loss dropped Harding to 6-6 overall and in conference play. The Lady Bisons have a .500 winning percentage and are tied with Ouachita Baptist (3-3) for third place in the conference standings with one game to play. Harding is at Southern Arkansas Saturday in Magnolia.
Henderson State won for the fifth time in its last five games and improved to 6-6 overall and 6-5 in conference play. The Reddies are second in the GAC East standings and play Arkansas-Monticello on Saturday.
All 12 teams in the GAC qualify for the conference tournament this season.
Mains shot 12 of 25 from the field, made four 3-pointers, and connected on 10 of 11 free throws.
"She just scored any time she wanted to," Harding head coach Tim Kirby said. "That girl is tough."
Mains made a layup with 2:26 left to give the Reddies a 77-75 lead. Harding came up empty on its next four possessions, and Mains hit a jumper in the lane with 16.1 seconds left to put Henderson State ahead by four.
Harding's Carissa Caples converted a three-point play on the other end to trim the Henderson State lead to 79-78 with 8.6 seconds left. The Lady Bisons fouled Lani Snowden on the in-bounds pass, and Snowden hit both free throws with 6.3 remaining.
A contested 3-pointer came up short on Harding's next trip, and Kennedy Cooper's putback layup made trimmed Henderson State's lead to 81-80 with only 1.2 seconds left. Harding fouled again, and Snowden made the first of two. Henderson State batted away Harding's lob attempt with 0.2 seconds on the clock to end the game.
Sage Hawley led Harding in scoring with 21 points. Kellie Lampo had 18 points and 14 rebounds, and Caples scored 20 points, shooting 8 of 8 at the free-throw line.
The teams combined to shoot 64 free throws. Harding was 21 of 29, and Henderson State was 27 of 35, including 22 of 27 in the second half.
Harding held Henderson State to only 25% shooting in the third quarter and tied the game at 55-55 entering the final period. The Reddies did not have a field goal in the final 5:27 of the period. The two teams combined to shoot 26 free throws in the period. Harding was 8 of 10, and Henderson State was 13 of 16.
Both Caples and Lampo surpassed the 1,200-point mark in career scoring in the period, becoming the 13th and 14th Harding players to reach that mark.
Harding shot only 29% in the first half, and Henderson State closed the half on a 12-1 run over the final 3:30 to lead 36-31. Maci Mains had more than half her team's points, scoring 19 on 6-of-12 shooting, including four 3-pointers.
Henderson State led 15-14 after one quarter. Lampo and Hawley had six points each for Harding in the quarter.
