Utah guard Erika Bean flung herself in the air with one second on the shot clock for an off-balance jumper.
The whistle sounded. Foul.
With 30 seconds on the clock, she went to the line and made one of two free-throws, giving the Utes a four-point lead. Bean went to the line again five seconds later, and Tori Williams followed her as Washington State forced Utah to win the game from the charity stripe — which it did, 54-50 on Friday night at the Huntsman Center.
“I think we made baskets when it counted down the stretch,” said Utah forward Emily Potter, who led the team with 16 points.
It was Utah’s second victory in its past seven games and first home win since December.
“That wasn’t pretty, but at this point who cares?” said Utes coach Lynne Roberts. “At this point, it’s February 16th, it’s about just finding a way and moving on.”
Utah (16-10, 7-8) went into the game eighth in the league.
“When we beat them at their place there was a little more up and down,” Roberts said of Utah’s 81-79 win in Pullman earlier this season, in which the Utes shot 46.7 percent from beyond the arc. “They really tried to take the air out of the ball and forced us to try to execute in the half court and we struggled a little bit there in the second half. They made us kind of play slow, and we hadn’t seen them do that.”
The Utes jumped out to an 8-2 lead to start the game, powered by Potter and Megan Huff’s four points apiece,and extended the lead to 18-10 at the end of the first quarter.
The Cougars clawed their way back into contention with five second-quarter 3-pointers for all 15 of their points. The perimeter barrage got Washington State within two points in the second quarter.
“We doubled down, which we never do,” Roberts said of Utah’s second-quarter defense. “We left shooters, over-helped on screens and then let the screener be open for the pop — that’s not what we talked about doing. And that’s where we’ve got to continue to mature and not make those mistakes, but we did a much, much better job in the second half.”
With 1:39 left in the first half, Utah’s Tori Williams hit a 3-pointer, and Bean fought her way to the rim and scored one more layup before halftime to give the Utes a 31-25 advantage.
Washington State only allowed Utah’s Daneesha Provo four shots from the field, all of which she missed, making Friday the only game this season that she has scored zero points. Provo came into the game averaging 13 points per game.