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Las Vegas • Lexi Eaton figured a baseline drive would get her open in the final seconds on Thursday night at Orleans Arena.
She was right.
Eaton's short jumper from the baseline with two seconds remaining lifted BYU to a 65-64 win over Saint Mary's in a West Coast Conference women's basketball quarterfinal game on Thursday night.
"I saw a little space and I let it fly," Eaton said.
The Cougars (22-9) will play in a semifinal game on Monday at 1 p.m., most likely against top-seeded Gonzaga. The Zags will face LMU on Friday in a quarterfinal game.
It will be difficult to duplicate Thursday's heroics for Eaton, who played the last nine minutes or so with four fouls. She finished with a game-high 30 points.
"I have all the confidence in the world in this girl," said BYU's Morgan Bailey.
Coach Jeff Judkins said the final play was designed to go to Xojian Harry, but Eaton said it wasn't open and she decided to make something happen with about five seconds left.
"Lexi just made an unbelievable play," Judkins said.
The Cougars responded well when Eaton picked up her fourth foul and went to the bench with 14:13 remaining, stretching their lead to 46-42.
But they went four straight possessions without scoring to lose the lead, and Judkins quickly got his star back into the game. He called that the key to the victory - Eaton's ability to make a difference despite being saddled with fouls.
Saint Mary's picked up five points on one possession - Samira McDonald made a 3-pointer and Carli Rosenthal hit a pair of free throws - to take the lead midway through the second half.
Down 54-48, the Cougars put together a 9-2 run to take the lead, 57-56, with 4:45 remaining on Eaton's pull-up jumper and Harry's free throw.
The lead see-sawed from there.
Rosenthal's rebound basket with 16 seconds left gave the Gaels the 64-63 lead, but Eaton raced down the court, went to her right and hit the game-winner.
"It sucks," Rosenthal said of going from winning to losing in the pace of 16 seconds.
The Gaels got to the free-throw line consistently in the first half to take a 30-28 lead at the break.
BYU actually made four more field goals than SMC in the first 20 minutes, but the Cougars were just 1 of 2 from the line, compared to 13 of 16 for the Gaels.
Bailey, the West Coast Conference Player of the Year, was just 1 of 6 in the first half for two points and played just 13 minutes because she picked up two early fouls. She finished with just four points on 2 of 11 shooting, but had nine rebounds.
Eaton had 10 points at halftime, but the Cougars shot just 37.5 percent (12 of 32) and started the game missing seven of its first eight shots.
BYU went on a 14-3 run, sparked by Cassie Broadhead's four-point play, to take an 18-12 lead. However, SMC scored on its last nine possessions of the first half to take the two-point lead into intermission.
Broadhead had a career-high 10 points, while Harry and Kylie Maeda had seven each.
The Gaels won the rebounding battle 39-27, with Rosenthal grabbing 14.
Twitter: @drewjay —
WCC Tournament
Women's Quarterfinal Game
BYU 65, Saint Mary's 64
• Lexi Eaton's baseline jumper with two seconds remaining gives BYU a 65-64 win over the Gaels
• Eaton leads BYU with 30 points, while Cassie Broadhead adds a career-high 10 points off the bench
• Carli Rosenthal's rebound basket with 16 seconds left gives SMC a one-point lead before Eaton's game-winner