Arizona was staring at defeat and then struggling Houston flinched.
The Wildcats overcame a 13-point deficit with less than six minutes left, going on an 18-2 run, to take a lead by the end of regulation on Houston’s home court.
A miracle 3-pointer by Houston’s Eylia Love — whose last-second shot bounced high off the rim and fell through — forced overtime.
The Wildcats benefitted from a foul called with 1.4 seconds left in overtime when Skylar Jones tried to penetrate.
Jones made both free throws and Houston could not get an effective shot off in the end.
Arizona escaped with the 74-72 win and kept their NCAA tournament hopes alive at 17-12 overall and 8-8 in the Big 12.
“They outplayed us for 40 minutes,” Arizona coach Adia Barnes said during the 1400-AM postgame interview. “We scrapped and came back and got some plays down the stretch, but we were getting outplayed the whole game.”
Jones, who had 30 points against TCU last week at McKale Center, had only two points going into the fourth quarter against an inferior opponent.
Houston is in last place in the Big 12 at 1-15 with a 5-22 overall record.
Jones awoke in the fourth quarter and so did Arizona.
Jones had six points in a 12-0 run by the Wildcats that cut the lead to 58-57 with 2:19 remaining.
After Houston’s Laila Blair made two free throws with 1:55 left to increase the lead to 60-57, Jones and Breya Cunningham made layups and Jada Williams converted two free throws.
The 18-2 run overall gave Arizona a 63-60 lead with 5 seconds remaining in regulation.
“We were scrapping to come back,” Barnes said. “We had a little bit of momentum. We just made some plays down the stretch. I’m proud of us. We executed out of timeouts.”
Houston missed eight straight shots from the field before Love’s buzzer-beater over Jones.
“We can’t give up a 3 like that in the last second, not when we had fouls to give,” Barnes said. “They need a 3. We make them take a two. These are young mistakes, and they’re learning mistakes.”
Neither team had more than a two-point lead in overtime.
Love, who had 18 points and 14 rebounds, fouled out with 3:35 remaining and Houston ahead 66-65.
“We did not have an answer for Love,” Barnes said. “We could not guard her. Fortunately for us, she was in foul trouble. If she was not in foul trouble, we don’t win this game.”
Blair, who had 21 points, made two free throws with 37 seconds left to put Houston ahead 72-70.
Arizona responded with a pass on the block to Beh, who made a shot to tie the game with 31 seconds remaining.
Blair missed a jumper with 3 seconds left.
After a timeout, Arizona got the ball to Jones on the perimeter. Jones tried to penetrate but Summer Bostock stepped in her path. Their bodies collided and Bostock was called for the blocking foul with 1.4 seconds left.
Jones made the free throws for the unlikely — and harder-than-expected — victory.
Houston coach Ronald Hughey had to be restrained by his assistant coaches from approaching the referees after the game.
“It was a foul,” Barnes said. “But that’s a tough way to lose. A lot of times those are no-calls.”
The first half provided Houston hope with the Cougars making 53.6 percent of their shots from the field, 53.8 percent from 3-point range.
Jones was scoreless and Lauryn Swann had only two points when Houston led 40-31 at halftime.
Arizona’s offensive execution was lacking in the third quarter, missing all seven 3-point attempts and shooting 25 percent overall.
The Cougars led 52-41 heading into the fourth quarter.
“We came out very lackadaisical, no sense of urgency,” Barnes said. “The way that they were denying the ball on defense, that’s how we should deny. I don’t think we did that until the fourth quarter.”
Arizona has only two games remaining in the regular season — against Texas Tech at McKale Center on Tuesday (6 p.m. tipoff) and at Arizona State on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Recommended for you
