PEMBROKE — Stepping to the free-throw line for two shots, down by a point with 1.4 seconds remaining in overtime, The University of North Carolina at Pembroke sophomore forward Gabby Smith said a prayer.

Her prayers were answered — Smith hit both shots, and the Braves had a 61-60 overtime win Wednesday night at the English E. Jones Center.

“To me, whenever I got fouled, everybody was coming up to me like ‘you got it, we need two,’ and I’m like, y’all, pressure,” Smith said. “I guess I just focused, I said a prayer before I walked up to the line, and I walked up and put my hand in the cookie jar, as (assistant coach Kendra Samuels-Eaton) would say.”

Smith had also hit a putback with three seconds left in regulation to force overtime after Augusta’s Zairya West missed two free throws at the other end. UNCP’s Naomi Gilbert attempted a long 3-pointer before Smith got the rebound and banked in a layup to tie the game.

“We weren’t super aware of time and score; we’d used all our timeouts so we didn’t have any timeouts left,” UNCP coach John Haskins said. “We wanted to push it and I think we mistakenly thought maybe we were down three, versus two, and that was an offensive rebound off (Gilbert’s) 3. We pulled a 3 in transition, and fortunately she was there and able to put it back and put it into overtime.”

UNCP (2-7, 2-6 Peach Belt Conference) trailed by five points twice in the final minute of regulation. From a 51-46 deficit with 37 seconds left, the Lady Braves got a 3-pointer from Naomi Gilbert with 27 seconds to go to pull to 51-49. Asia Harrison made one of two free throws for Augusta (4-4, 3-1 PBC), and after the Jaguars got an offensive rebound off Harrison’s miss, Jaelyn Autman made one of two for a 53-49 lead with 23 seconds to go.

Smith hit a layup with 12 seconds left to pull UNCP back within two at 53-51, before West’s missed foul shots set up Smith’s game-tying basket.

“We dug that hole because we struggled to score for so long, and missed some free throws and got ourselves behind the eight ball,” Haskins said. “They missed a couple free throws and a couple big shots, and then I thought we did a good job in overtime and Gabby hit two free throws right there at the end.”

Smith scored six of the Braves’ eight overtime points, with two free throws and a layup in the extra session before her game-winning free throws. Every free throw or basket she hit in overtime either tied the game or gave UNCP the lead.

Smith had picked up her fourth foul with 9:47 left in the game, and played the last 5:10 of regulation plus all five minutes of overtime without picking up her fifth.

“I’m going to be honest, I got mad, and instead of letting my frustration take over and bring me down and negative and not be help, I tried to turn it into fuel to get back into the game,” Smith said. “I started talking to the girls more. I started pumping myself up in my head. I knew that I had to do what I had to do to get us in and to keep us in, and I knew that I could not foul.”

Smith’s layup with 3:59 to go in overtime was UNCP’s only field goal of the period, and gave UNCP a 56-55 lead. Augusta took a 59-57 lead on a Kiera Howard basket at the 2:20 mark before Gilbert hit two free throws 17 seconds later to tie the game at 59-59. Howard hit one free throw with 1:08 to go for a 60-59 Jaguar lead, the last scoring before Smith’s two late free throws.

Smith missed a shot attempt with 39 seconds to go in overtime and West missed a 3-point attempt with eight seconds left. Alcenia Purnell rebounded and made the pass up the court to find an open Smith before a foul put her at the stripe.

“I was just thinking about pushing the ball and attacking, and then I looked up for one second and saw Gabby’s man was on the other side, and Gabby just flashed with her hands open, and she was right there,” Purnell said. “So I was like, I’ve got to throw it and get it there. And my man’s hands are up, so I’m like, please don’t touch the ball, let it get there. And she got a foul.”

“I thought it was a great play by (Purnell),” Haskins said. “I looked at the clock; I knew we had to push it and there wasn’t a ton of time left, but I did not realize when she got fouled that it was 1.4 seconds. I thought it was a great pass, and a good job by Gabby running the floor, to get her to the free-throw line to win the game.”

After Smith’s free throws, Jadin Gladden stole the Jaguars’ inbounds pass to seal the win.

Smith finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, both team highs. Gilbert had 10 points and Purnell and Fedrick each scored nine.

Augusta’s Kennedi Manning had 15 points and 10 rebounds and West and Harrison each scored 10 for the Jaguars.

Augusta led 11-9 after the first quarter, but a run had already started for UNCP late in the period; that became a 16-2 run by the middle of the second quarter and gave UNCP a 23-13 lead. A Braves field goal drought over the final 5:48 of the half allowed Augusta to close to a 26-23 margin at intermission.

The game was a defensive struggle throughout, but that was most apparent in the third quarter. Augusta outscored UNCP 12-8 in the period to take a 35-34 lead to the fourth.

“If you look at the last three games, (Augusta has) averaged giving up about 46, 47 points defensively,” Haskins said. “They’re a good defensive team, they switch their defenses up. They zoned us a lot earlier, and manned us a lot of the second half.”

UNCP never led in the fourth quarter and its largest deficit came at 44-38 with 4:16 to go after a West triple. The Braves outscored the Jaguars 15-9 from that point to force overtime.

The Braves win comes after Augusta won the teams’ first meeting 77-51 on Dec. 5. The Jaguars had not lost a conference game in three PBC outings before Wednesday’s outcome.

“I think this was a huge win,” Purnell said. “Coming off (the court), after we found out that we won, everyone’s really hyped going to the locker room. I think this could boost us to get the last few wins.”

The Braves host USC Aiken on Saturday.