GUNNISON, Colo.  Grace Kirscher supplied the buzzer-beating, tying bucket in regulation then added nine more points in overtime to help host Western Colorado University scratch out an 83-80 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference win in women's basketball action Sunday at Paul Wright Gym.

Kirscher finished with 21 points, none more important than her layup from the right side that tied the game at 66-66 to send the contest into extra time.

THE ESSENTIALS
Final score: Western Colorado def. Chadron State, 83-80 OT
Records: Western Colorado 7-6 (5-3 RMAC), Chadron State 5-10 (4-5)
Location: Paul Wright Gym; Gunnison, Colo.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Western needed Kirscher's heroics twice in the final seconds of regulation. She hit a turn-around 8-foot jumper with 12 seconds remaining to square the game at 64-64, only to have Chadron's Samiyah Worrell answer with a go-ahead jumper six seconds later. Following a Western timeout, Kirscher took the inbounds pass from Emmery Wagstaff, spun baseline around her defender and deposited the tying basket.
• Kirscher scored the opening basket of overtime, and after Worrell dropped in a 3-pointer to provide Chadron with a one-point lead (69-68), the Mountaineer hero rained in a 3-pointer from the left corner for a Western lead that would hold up through the remainder of the extra period.
• The overtime finish was a fitting end to a game that saw all – but the last – breakaways by one team answered by the other.
• Western broke out of the gate with a 9-0 lead to start the game, but the Eagles put on a 12-3 run to knot the score at 12-12 for the first of 14 ties across the 45 minutes of game action.
• The teams headed into intermission tied at 36-36, but only after Western erased a six-point deficit late in the second quarter.
• Western broke free late in the third, stretching a one-point lead, 46-45, into an eight-point bulge behind a pair of Brooklyn Seymour layups and a 3-pointer from Wagstaff. Chadron bounced back, however, to tie the game at 53-53 midway through the fourth period, setting up the late-game drama provided by Kirscher and Worrell.

COURT NOTES

• Kirscher led a quartet of Mountaineers into double figures during the victory. Wagstaff finished with 19, Katie Dalton added 15 and Courtney Humbarger chimed in with a season-high 10 points.
• Worrell's 24 points led the Eagles, who also got 17 from Ashayla Powers and 13 points from Jori Peters.
• Though Chadron won the battle on the glass, coming down with a 46-39 edge in rebounds, Western earned the offensive advantage in close, scoring 32 of its points from in the paint compared to the Eagles' 18 points from in close.
• The Mountaineers were an unselfish bunch, doling out a season-high 17 assists during the victory. Dalton dished out a game-high four, while eight others registered at least one assist.

NEXT UP

• Western extends its home stand with RMAC games Friday against Adams State University and Saturday against Colorado State University Pueblo.
• Chadron is on the road Tuesday at Black Hills State University before hosting  South Dakota Mines on Friday and Westminster College on Saturday.