It’s the first time WSU has finished higher than ninth place in seven years.

As the No. 4 seed, Weber State (13-15, 10-8 Big Sky) byes to the second day of the tournament quarterfinals and will play No. 5 Idaho State (13-16, 8-10) at noon Monday, March 10, at Idaho Central Arena in Boise. Weber State won the season series 2-0 in two overtime games.

Tied 59-59, Northern Colorado opened overtime on an 8-1 run and a Silvia Nativi layup put the home team ahead 67-60 with 2:39 left.

Rose Bubakar got Weber State’s first field goal in 8 game minutes with a drive. Taylor Smith followed with one free-throw miss followed by one make. On the make, Bubakar took a shove in the paint and went to the line for two shots and no time expired. She made both, getting the score to 67-66 with 41.7 seconds left.

Aniah Hall appeared to have a huge bucket for Northern Colorado with 11.7 seconds left by grabbing a teammate’s airball and scoring a basket, but review showed her shot came after the shot clock expired.

Out of a timeout, Weber went to Smith. She was 3 of 14 from the field with five turnovers at that point but put that behind her, working her way to the right block, drawing space with a slight pump fake, and banking in the game-winner with 6.4 seconds left.

The Bears got one look and another great rebound putback attempt from Hall but it rolled off, Bubakar grabbed the rebound and WSU got the victory.

Bubakar led WSU with 13 points. Smith added 12 points and five rebounds. Lanae Billy scored 11 points, and Antoniette Emma-Nnopu totaled seven points and 10 rebounds.

NoCo’s London Gamble led all scorers with 23 points and she was the main reason the game got to overtime. Weber State appeared to be cruising to the above-.500 finish and led 51-39 on a Kendra Parra 3-pointer with 5:38 left in the third quarter.

Gamble scored four straight makes for her team to cap a 16-2 run and put the Bears ahead 55-53 midway through the fourth quarter.

Kennedy Eskelson ended the drought with a layup and two Billy free throws restored WSU to a 57-55 lead. The Wildcats led until Nativi poked the ball from Smith on a drive, dove on the ball and called timeout with 11.5 seconds left.

Neenah George got into the paint and drew a foul, made both shots, and NoCo led 59-58 with 7.7 left. Emma-Nnopu had the response 3 seconds later but made just the first freebie, sending the game to overtime.