The official tally says No. 9 Weber State women’s basketball (21:03) led Sunday afternoon’s Big Sky tournament quarterfinal for twice as long as No. 1 Eastern Washington (10:15).

But the Eagles, who trailed by as many as nine points midway through the third quarter, rallied to avoid the upset.

EWU prevailed 71-58 at Idaho Central Arena in Boise to advance to the semifinals.

In their final college games, forward Daryn Hickok added 21 points to her No. 3 overall scoring total at Weber State. Jadyn Matthews, who may likely forever be the program’s leader in games played, racked up 20 points and 16 rebounds.

After the game went to halftime tied 25-25, Weber State (8-25) burst out of the locker room with points. Hickok nailed two 3-pointers and Matthews, after she scored two driving buckets, knocked down a 3 from the wing to put WSU ahead 43-34 with 4:38 left in the third quarter.

But the points and stops didn’t last forever. Jamie Loera, EWU’s unanimous league MVP, scored 10 of her 14 points in the second half to help key the Eagles’ comeback. Eastern (26-6) finished the third quarter on a 13-3 run and led 47-46.

That run continued to a 37-15 rally over the final 14:38. As well as Weber State played — shooting 44.2% and outscoring EWU 38-28 in the paint — the Wildcats were undone by turnovers.

With the game tied 18-18 or with WSU holding a 20-18 lead, the Wildcats held EWU without points for more than seven minutes in the second quarter. But in that time, Weber State shot 1 of 6 from the field and committed five turnovers.

After losing their lead, the Wildcats committed eight more turnovers in the fourth quarter to stifle any comeback efforts. WSU totaled 21 turnovers to EWU’s 11, and the Eagles gave up only three after halftime.

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