Brenna Chase had a block, a steal and a 3-pointer all within the final minute Tuesday to give BYU women’s basketball a 62-57 win over Utah State, its second overtime win of the season.
“This was a fun and scary game to coach," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "I thought we came out and played a lot better in the second half, especially the fourth quarter and overtime."
Chase finished with 13 points on the night, including three 3-pointers in the second half alone, representing all of BYU’s makes from behind the arc. Freshman guard Shaylee Gonzales led all players in scoring with a career-high 20, while she and Chase contributed three steals each. Paisley Johnson joined the two guards in double figures with 10, including a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.
After getting beat 17-7 in the opening quarter, BYU fired back with a 14-9 advantage in the second to bring it within five at the half, 26-21. The Cougars struggled to shoot the ball in the first half, missing all seven of their 3-point attempts.
BYU took a brief lead, 31-30, with three minutes remaining in the third quarter, but a 10-3 run by the Aggies to close the period gave USU a six-point lead, 40-34, going into the fourth.
Gonzales was the first Cougar to hit double digits with 11 on an and-one to open the fourth quarter. Gonzales got two more free throws to bring the Cougars back within two, 41-39. The game was then tied at 43 on a fast-break layup from Chase to give her 10 points. BYU took a 46-45 lead on another Gonzales free throw with five minutes left in the game, as the freshman had 10 of her 20 total points in the fourth quarter alone.
Jasmine Moody fouled out with two minutes remaining, exiting the game with five points and six rebounds. Shalae Salmon stepped up for the Cougars down low, finishing with nine rebounds on the night. A foul in the final minute sent USU back to the free-throw line, where a pair of shots put the Aggies up, 55-53, but a layup by Johnson with 30 seconds to go sent the game into overtime.
Gonzales scored first for the Cougars in overtime to reach 20 points for the first time in her BYU career. Chase blocked a shot to potentially put the Aggies up in the final minute and then hit a straightaway 3-pointer to put BYU up, 60-57, with 33 seconds remaining in overtime.
Freshman Babalu Ugwu forced a held ball to give the Cougars the ball back with 15 seconds to go, and Johnson hit both of her free throws to put BYU up for good. The Aggies brought the ball back up to try to close the gap, but Chase’s third steal of the game squandered any such hopes.
BYU outscored the Aggies, 28-17, in the fourth quarter and overtime, including a 7-0 run to end the game. The Cougars forced 19 total Aggie turnovers, including five in overtime alone, and scored 15 points off them to finish with the edge.
The Cougars stay on the road to play TCU on Friday, Nov. 23, as part of the SDSU Thanksgiving Classic at Viejas Arena in San Diego. The game tips off at 7:15 p.m. PDT, and can be streamed live at gofrogs.com/HFTV.