LORMAN &045; If all exhibition games were like this, the regular season would get boring real quick.

Henderson State’s Lady Reddies were far from the customary exhibition pushover and fought back to take a 62-61 win over Alcorn State Saturday afternoon. In a game that mean nothing in the standings, it meant everything to both teams &045; particularly the Lady Braves, who were without two starters.

Alcorn had a chance to win it at the end, but LaToya Johnson had two shots roll in and out before the final buzzer sounded.

&uot;They’ve been to the big one,&uot; Alcorn head coach Shirley Walker said of the Division II Lady Reddies, who are ranked No. 6 in the nation. &uot;That’s the team I wanted to come in and be tested by. They’ve been to the Big House, and they’ve got a lot of Division I players. But it’s like I told my players &045; that’s the kind of exhibition I wanted to have to see where we are.&uot;

The Lady Braves had success against Henderson and built up a 10-point lead at the start of the second half before the Lady Reddies &045; armed with six Division I transfers &045; made a push to get back in the game.

Henderson outscored Alcorn 27-16 in the final 11 minutes, but Alcorn had the chance to win it at the end. Tnonealyer Powers put in a bucket off a steal with 37 seconds left to give the Lady Braves a 61-60 lead, but Maggie Sauls &045; a San Diego State transfer &045; put in a basket with 23 seconds left to put Henderson back on top.

The Lady Braves tried to get it into Powers inside, but HSU post Aesha Carter swatted it away. Then Johnson fired a shot, missed and fired another as time expired, only to have neither close-range shots go in.

&uot;I thought they were going to get something going to the basket, and they did,&uot; HSU head coach Jeff Caldwell said. &uot;We did the best we could do. I thought we did a better job of staying with each other. I was impressed with the pressure that Alcorn can put on you. I thought they did a super job, and it took us a little while to adjust to it. I was proud of our kids for staying with it.&uot;

The Lady Braves had their lead shrink and fizzle in the second half when the Lady Reddies stepped up their defense in the post against Powers and Candace Roberts inside. The Lady Braves missed some key shots around the basket but couldn’t open it up from the outside with Shikhia Sims and Natasha Dennis out with injuries.

The Lady Braves had a 10-point lead with 11:34 left when LaToya Wily scored for a 45-35 lead, but Henderson answered with a 14-2 run to take control of the game.

&uot;They’re a good team, and we just had a lot of missed shots,&uot; said Roberts, who finished with 10 points behind Johnson’s 11 and Powers’ 24. &uot;We played defense nice, but we just didn’t capitalize on some easy shots.

We were missing two people, and everybody stepped up and gave a solid effort.&uot;

The Lady Reddies got a 3-pointer each from Satoya Spates and Julie Anderson in the run, and Saprina Reed put in a layup with 7:34 left that gave HSU a 49-47 lead. From there the lead bounced back and forth, but the Lady Reddies got another big 3-pointer when Reed canned another with 3:25 left for a 56-53 lead.

Rebecca Frost then put in a bucket at the 2:28 mark for a 58-53 lead.

&uot;We had 10 layups missed and other mistakes over the ball game,&uot; Walker said. &uot;We kept putting them on the free throw line, but hopefully we’ll get better down the road. I enjoyed the test and hope the girls see exactly what we’re trying to do. I think that our defense &045; we did a good job. We just made some mistakes, had some turnovers that I didn’t think we should have made.&uot;

The Lady Braves pulled away just past the midway point of the first half after Henderson took a two-point lead. Frost’s bucket at the 8:05 mark gave the Lady Reddies a 17-15 lead, but Tanika Nunez got a steal on the press, laid it up and got fouled to tie it up.

Nunez missed the free throw, but Powers was there to grab the rebound and put it back in for the 19-17 lead.