SHAWNEE, Okla. – The SWOSU women's basketball team had their magical GAC Tournament run end in a 71-55 loss to Henderson State in the GAC Championship. The Lady Bulldogs couldn't replicate the hot offense from their past two GAC Tournament games.
 
SWOSU ends the 2023-24 season 15-16 overall and 10-12 in GAC play. After missing the postseason all together, year two for head coach Jeff Zinn almost brought the Lady Bulldogs another conference title.
 
The Lady Dawgs stumbled out of the gate and fell behind by eight after one quarter. HSU extended the lead to as many as 14 in the first half and maintained the eight-point lead at half. A back and forth third quarter really opened up with a 7-0 run that took the Reddie advantage to 54-38, an advantage that proved too much for SWOSU to overcome.
 
After setting new season highs for field goal percentage in the previous two games, the SWOSU offense came back down to earth at 31.7% overall and just 6.3% from three. The opening quarter saw the Lady Dawgs fail to establish an offensive rhythm, a theme for the game. They defended well and held Henderson State to 5-16 shooting. The second quarter was the most efficient quarter for SWOSU. They hit half of their shots and scored 17 points, but Henderson State matched their total due to three three-point shots.
 
The Reddies took true control of the game in the third quarter. They kept SWOSU at arm's length through a main chunk of the period, but ended on a 9-2 extended run that swung all of the momentum into the favor of Henderson State going into the final 10 minutes.
 
The SWOSU offense was not able to produce the firepower to mount the comeback in the fourth. HSU extended the lead to as many as 18 at 71-53.
 
The painted area was where Henderson State won the game. SWOSU allowed 30 points in the paint and were outrebounded 52-28, giving up 14 offensive rebounds to the Reddies.
 
Averi Zinn, Hailey Grant, and Mason Jones were all named to the All-Tournament Team for their play over the three games. Jones, the star of the semifinal game last night, was injured early in the first quarter and never truly got going today.
 
Averi Zinn led SWOSU with a team high 16 points, six steals and three rebounds. Hailey Grant scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds. Layni Zinn and Libbi Zinn put in eight and seven points respectively.
 
SWOSU only graduates one senior – Taryn Galt.