Henderson State Athletics Spring Season Canceled Due To COVID-19

Today marks two weeks since classes were held in the classroom on the Henderson State campus and a lot has changed. The infamous COVID-19 virus has been what everyone is talking about for the past months and its tragic impact on the sports world. 

 

Henderson State has canceled all sports activities and games for the remainder of the 2020 spring season. Not only has HSU canceled their games, but all sports around the world have come to a halt due to the fast-spreading virus. 

 

Here is a recap on how the Reddies left their mark. 

 

Women’s Basketball

 

HSU finished the season with an overall record of 20-10 and a conference record of 14-8. The Reddies participated in the GAC playoffs playing their first game against the NO. 4 seed Southern Nazarene University and won in overtime 78-74. The next opponent was against the NO. 1 seed Southeastern Oklahoma State University and Henderson fell short in overtime 84-87. The season ended with five seniors leaving; Pink Jones, Blu Jones, Hailey Estes, Madi Nichols, and Brooke Lewis. 

 

Honorable Mentions 

 

Senior Guard Hailey Estes was selected for the All-GAC first-team honors and is the all-time rebounding leader with 958 rebounds. Estes is also the fourth player in HSU history to score 1,400 points. 

 

Senior Guard Pink Jones earned All-GAC honors for the fourth time, also making the 2019-2020 All-GAC second team. Jones is also Henderson’s all-time assist leader with 471 assists and is also the second all-time leader in points in HSU history with a total of 1573 points. 

 

Junior Forward Karrington Whaley is the second-leading scorer and rebounder with 12.8 points and 8.2 per game, leading HSU with 43 blocks. Whaley also led the conference in field goal percentage for the second season straight, shooting 56.2% from the floor. 

 

Junior Guard Lani Snowden is one of the nation’s top 3-point shooters with 63 three-pointers at 45.3% which is ranked second in the GAC and 12th in Division 2.

 

Sophomore Guard Maci Mains is the GAC “Six Man of the Year” and is the third leading scorer with 12.2 points per game. Mains also has a 75.5% on the free-throw line with 102 attempts.

 

Men’s Basketball

 

The Reddies were just getting started by winning the GAC conference and having the chance to play in the NCAA Division 2 playoffs. HSU finished with an overall record of 23-8 and a conference record of 15-7. Henderson has not won a league title in the past 17 years. The first opponent in the GAC playoffs was against the NO. 6 seed the University of Arkansas at Monticello, winning 89-83 in overtime. Then, advancing to the semifinals against the NO. 2 seed Southeastern Oklahoma State University, defeating them 76-73. 

 

Finally, playing against the NO. 4 seed Oklahoma Baptist University for the GAC championship. The Reddies won 72-61 making their season continue onto the Regional Quarterfinals facing the NO. 2 seed Southern Nazarene University. HSU had three players named GAC All-Tournament Team which included; Raekwon Rogers, Rel Johnson, and Chris Parker. Parker was also named the GAC Tournament MVP. 

 

The last time Henderson advanced to the NCAA Division 2 tournament was in the 2006-2007 season, HSU advanced to the semifinals before falling against Montevallo in overtime. Henderson State had already traveled to Missouri where the tournament was being held but were sent back home ending their season bittersweet due to the cancelation of the tournament because of the COVID-19 virus. Nevertheless, congratulations Reddies, Henderson is still very proud of the accomplishments on the terrific season, thank you for bringing the GAC title back home. 

 

Honorable Mentions 

 

Senior Guard Anthony Lupardus has a career-high of 19 points in a game and has hit 4 or more three-pointers in six games. Lupardus has also scored in double figures 17 times this season. He is also 3rd in the GAC in three-point shooting with a percentage of 45.0%.

 

Junior Guard Chris Parker was selected for the 2020 First Team All-GAC and the 2020 GAC Tournament MVP. Parker has scored double figures in 22 games and reached 1000 career points on January 16, 2020. During the GAC Tournament, he averaged 17.3 points per game. 

 

Senior Guard Rel Johnson was selected for the 2020 GAC All-Tournament Team and has scored double figures in 23 games including all three games in the GAC Tournament. Johnson also scored the game-winning basket at home vs Southeastern Oklahoma University on January 25. He also averages 12.2 points per game.

 

Senior Forward Mike Fofana was selected for the 2019-2020 Honorable Mentions in the All-GAC. Fofana has a season-high of 18 points and his best game was against ECU achieving 17 points and 17 rebounds. He also had 14 points and eight rebounds in the GAC Championship game.

 

Junior Forward Raekwon Rogers was selected for the 2020 GAC All-Tournament Team and on the 2019-2020 Second Team All-GAC. Rogers leads the GAC with an FG percentage of 62.4% and in the GAC Tournament against UAM snagged 22 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks. 

 

Baseball

 

Henderson State Baseball season was just getting started with an overall record of 10-12 and a conference record of 7-5. The Reddies at home record was 7-5 and the away record was 3-4. HSU had just fallen short to Southern Arkansas University on March 10th with a final score of 5-13. However significant wins cannot be ignored when it comes to this team with previous games such as on March 7th against Southern Nazarene winning 25-12. In this specific game Freshman Alec Lewis, at the time was the reigning GAC player of the week hit a total of three hits, seven RBIs and three home runs. The Reddies had four true seniors which include Joe Myers, CJ Hughes, Danny Mitchell Jr., and Drake Salsman. Henderson also had two redshirt seniors and two graduate students which include Daniel Colasanto, Jake Dunn, Taylor Langston, and Blake Patterson. 

 

Softball

 

The Softball team also had their season taken away not even making it halfway into the season. The Reddies finished with an overall record of 10-14 and a conference record of 6-6. Hendersons last opponent before the cancelation of games was against Southern Nazarene in a four-game series finishing with 3 wins and 1 loss. The best game of the season took place on February 29th in Oklahoma against OKBU in which Henderson State won 12-6 in the last game of the four-game series also being the only win out of the four. In this specific game, HSU took advantage in the top of the third inning when Junior outfielder Kailey Reese hit a 3-run home run which was her second one of the day, in total three home runs were hit to lead Henderson to victory. The team had a total of four seniors which include Alyssa Dixon, Christina Camp, Cayleigh Guthrie, and Kaityln Felder.

 

Women’s Golf

 

Henderson State had only two meets left before the GAC Championships, the HSU Spring Invite and the Central Regional Spring preview. The Reddies had achieved four first or second place wins out of the eight meets they attended. HSU had their best meet on February 17-18 at the Badger Invitational winning first place out of the eight participating teams. This win is the first of the 2019-2020 season and gave the program at least one tournament victory in the last four years. Henderson had the best team score for a single round with a 294 for the final 18 holes, also finishing with a three-round score of 914. The team had one senior Taylor Loeb. 

 

Men’s Golf

 

The HSU Men’s golf team also had two meets before the GAC Championship, the Ozark Invitational, and the Argonaut Invitational. In the previous seven meets, Henderson attained two first or second place spots. The Reddies best meet was at home in the Battle for the Belt on October 21, 2019, where Henderson won first place. The Battle for the Belt win concluded the fall schedule for the men. At this meet HSU had three players shoot even-par or better in the win which included Nick Sapiro, Mitchell Ford, and Stuart Krog. Shapiro had the best round of the day by any single player with a 4-under 68. The team had one true senior, Nick Shapiro, and two red-shirt seniors; Stuart Krog and Christian Woods. 

 

Women’s Tennis

 

The Reddies finished with an overall record of 6-4 and a conference record of 0-0 due to not being able to start the GAC conference games. Henderson State only got to start and not even finish the preseason. The Reddies had plenty of games until the GAC Championship, the best game of the Hendersons season took place on February 16th. This 7-0 victory match was against Texas A&M-Texarkana. The team had two seniors; Lauren Miller and Franny Nyarko.