SUU women's basketball took down the Weber State Wildcats Monday night by the score 85-75. Daylani Ballena led the Thunderbirds with 22 points in the teams' last road matchup with Weber as Big Sky rivals.
Southern Utah lost the opening tip-off leading to a Wildcats 5-0 opening run before Sam Johnston started the scoring with a three pointer followed by a layup from Darri Dotson to tie things up. Weber added 13 unanswered points off of two threes from Alom Solovi. The T-Birds scored 9 points to end the first quarter down 5 with a 14-19 score.
The first two minutes of the second quarter started with defense on both ends of the quarter including blocks from both Dotson and Johnston recording blocks. Two Johnston three pointers kickstarted the scoring in the quarter before the action got tight with Weber taking a 23-22 lead through 5:03. SUU kept it close but Weber's lead held until halftime with a 35-32 score.
The Thunderbirds scored nine to take their first lead of the second half with just under six minutes left of the quarter and held on despite the Wildcats keeping neck and neck. Dayla Ballena recorded 10 points in the period to give SUU a 55-52 lead heading into the final quarter of regulation.
It was a three point ball game as the clock ticked past 10 seconds left in the game as Head Coach Tracy Sanders called a timeout after a missed Weber free throw. Johnston hit a three pointer for her 18th point of the game to tie the game with 4.6 seconds left to play. Dotson poked the ball out of the Wildcats hands to send the game to overtime.
Dotson scored the first bucket of overtime off the assist from Ballena to take the lead. Weber quickly found their way to the free throw line to erase the lead before putting Cherita Daughtrey at the free throw line to take one of two. The two teams traded blows until a Daughtrey steal into a Ballena bucket gave SUU some breathing room. Ballena added two from the line before Weber's Jadyn Matthews found herself with two free throws draining one of them with 32 seconds left on the clock.
The Thunderbirds ended the game with free throws stretching their lead to take the ballgame 85-75.
Ballena led both teams with 22 points off of 10 trips to the free throw line while adding seven assists. Johnston added 20 points of her own with five three pointers and three steals.
SUU returns to Cedar City on Thursday to take on Portland State inside the America First Event Center. Tip off is set for 6:30 p.m. MST and will be streamed on ESPN+.
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