PROVO, Utah—Lexi Eaton pushed BYU women’s basketball to a 69-67 overtime victory against Saint Mary’s Saturday, making a jump shot with 24 seconds on the clock followed by a defensive rebound.

“I’m really proud of these guys,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “We knew this game was going to be like this, a slug fest. I saw a lot of toughness tonight. Each player made a key play tonight. There wasn’t one kid doing it, it was everybody. That’s what this team is built on.”

Eaton led the Cougars (13-2, 3-1 WCC) with 19 points, also contributing 10 rebounds for her first career double-double. Jennifer Hamson picked up her 10th double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds.  Kylie Maeda had a career-high 14 points and was a perfect 4 for 4 from 3-point land.

The game was BYU’s third to go into overtime this season.

The Cougars shot 48 percent from the field and held the Gaels (12-3, 2-2 WCC) to only 26.2 percent. BYU won the assist battle 18-10 and led in rebounds 42-37.

After a slow start to the first half, Eaton tied the score 9-9 with free throws. Saint Mary’s responded with a 5-0 run. Maeda halted the run with a basket from beyond the arc, cutting the deficit to 14-12 with 8:53 until halftime.

The Gaels scored six straight points off free throws before Maeda threw down another trey, cutting the Saint Mary’s advantage to 20-15. Fouls hurt the Cougars in the first half, earning the Gaels 13 of their 32 points.

Hamson pushed back with a short-range jumper, which Kim Beeston followed up with a layup with less than two minutes on the clock. A trey from Beeston put BYU within four at 32-28 going into halftime.

After three minutes of play in the second half, Maeda drained another three. Saint Mary’s tipped the ball out of bounds, giving the ball back to the Cougars. Hamson scored a bucket off the turnover, putting BYU back in the lead 35-34 for the first time since the opening minutes of the game. A Gael foul after Hamson’s score awarded Eaton the chance to extend the lead to 37-34 with 15:35 on the clock, capping a 9-0 Cougar run.

A 6-0 Saint Mary’s run put the Gaels ahead 54-51 with 6:18 to play. Hamson tied it up 56-56 on back-to-back free throws, and Beeston’s jump shot took the lead back with four minutes left.

Free throws put the Gaels up 62-58, but two foul shots and a layup from Hamson tied the score at 62 with 40 seconds left. Down to 16 seconds, Eaton rebounded a jumper missed by Saint Mary’s and took it to the other end, but couldn’t get the ball in the hoop to prevent overtime.

BYU went up 67-64 on a Maeda layup with just over a minute left in overtime. The Gaels tied the score on a jumper and foul shot before Eaton pulled off her game-winning basket with 24 seconds to go. Saint Mary’s missed a shot with 1 second left and Eaton rebounded it to seal the victory for BYU.

The Cougars head to Spokane, Wash., to take on Gonzaga Thursday at 6 p.m. PST.

Postgame notes
Team

Saint Mary's led by as many as eight points twice in the first half. BYU's largest lead of the game was three with 15:35 left to go in the second half.

The Cougars turned over the ball 13 times in the first half compared to just six for the Gaels. Saint Mary's beat BYU in that category 12-25. The Cougars outshot the Gaels 48 percent to 26 percent for the game.

During the game there were 11 ties and 10 lead changes.

Player

Both Lexi Eaton and Kim Beeston led BYU in the first half with seven points each. Ashley Garfield and Jennifer Hamson each had four rebounds after the first 20 minutes.

Eaton finished the game with a team-leading 19 points, including the game-winning layup, while Beeston finished with nine points and three assists. Eaton also finished with 10 rebounds to give her the first double-double of her career.

Garfield fouled out of the game with four points and four rebounds.

Hamson scored 15 and grabbed 10 boards in the win marking her 10th double-double of the year.

Kylie Maeda went 4 of 4 from the 3-point line to tie her career record. She finished the game with 14 points to set a new career high in that category.

With a 12-2, 2-1 record, the Cougar women host one more West Coast Conference game this week. BYU battles Saint Mary’s (12-2, 2-1) on Saturday, Jan. 4 at 2 p.m. MST. The game will air live on BYUtv.

About BYU
Three players are scoring in double figures for the Cougar women, led by Jennifer Hamson who is averaging 19.5 points per game and has scored in double digits in all but one game played. Lexi Eaton follows with 15.4 points per game and Kim Beeston contributes 12.3 points.

As a team, BYU is averaging 73.9 points per game and is holding opponents to 66.5 points. The Cougars have recorded more blocks than opponents in all games and have dished out more assists in 12 of the 14 games played to date. They have also recorded more rebounds in nine contests to date.

In the coaches’ preseason poll, BYU was picked to finish fourth in the WCC regular season race behind San Diego, Saint Mary’s and league favorite Gonzaga. Hamson was named to the preseason all-conference team, her second such honor.

• Head coach: Jeff Judkins (Utah, ‘78) enters his 13th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #5 Hamson, 19.5 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #5 Hamson, 10.3 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #4 Beeston, 3.8 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #4 Beeston, 1.5 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #5 Hamson, 3.9 bpg

About Saint Mary’s
Saint Mary’s round out the week of league action with a 12-2, 2-1 record and is tied for second place with BYU in the WCC standings. The Gaels defeated Gonzaga and Portland last week and lost to San Diego this past Thursday.

The Gaels have four players scoring in double digits and the team is putting up 81.3 points per game and allowing opponents to score 71.8 points per game.

Saint Mary’s returns 10 letterwinners including four starters from last year’s team that went 23-11, tied for third place with BYU in the WCC race and advanced to the quarterfinals of the WNIT.

• Head coach: Paul Thomas (Wayne State, 1986) 8th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #3 Jackie Nared, 20.8 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #54 Danielle Mauldin, 14.1 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #10 Kate Gaze, 5.3 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #54 D. Mauldin, 1.5 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #54 D. Mauldin, 1.6 bpg

Series History
SMC leads 3-2. In Provo the Gaels have a 1-2 record.

Last Meeting
During last season’s league race, these teams split the series with each team winning on its home court.

The two league foes played an additional game last year, in the third round of the WNIT in Provo on 3/27/13. That closely fought game went the way of the Gaels. They defeated the Cougars 59-55.

In the first league game, BYU beat SMC 66-58 on 1/31/13 in Provo. In the second contest played in Moraga, Saint Mary’s recorded the 64-52 victory.

Up Next
The BYU women’s basketball team will play its next three WCC games on the road. The road swing begins Thursday, Jan. 9 at Gonzaga with a game in Portland against the Pilots on Saturday, Jan. 11. The following game the Cougars travel to San Diego to take on current conference leader, the Toreros, on Saturday, Jan. 18 at Jenny Craig Pavilion. All three games will be heard live on BYU Radio.

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