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CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Western Carolina women's basketball won an overtime thriller 63-59 against USC Upstate Saturday in the Ramsey Center.

The Catamounts have now won three straight and improve to 5-3 on the year. USC Upstate falls to 4-5.

Trailing by three, senior guard Ali Lane drained a three-pointer with 7.8 seconds left to force overtime. It was the second of two three pointers Lane hit in the final 42 seconds of regulation.

With 40 seconds remaining, the Spartans felt they might have the game in hand leading by five, after a pair of free throws by Brittany Clency. Catamount freshman Emily Hatfield hit a lay-up with 28 seconds left, to push over to a career-high 10 points, and set up the game-tying three-pointer by Lane.

Western Carolina took control of the game in overtime. The Catamounts scored the first four points of the OT, thanks to a pair of free throws by Justin Taylor and a lay-up by Brianne Mack, to lead 58-54. USC Upstate trimmed the game to one, 60-59, when Raven Jefferson hit a three-pointer.

In the final 1:35 of overtime, Catamount freshman Kyia Hough was 3-of-4 from the free throw line to keep the Spartans at bay.

Western Carolina led by a thin margin of 27-26 at the half. The Catamounts kept its lead until 13:27, in the second half, when Shermayne Edwards hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 35. Brittany Starling followed with a pair of free throws and the Spartans captured its first lead of the second half, 37-35.

The Catamounts would trail for the remainder of the second half with USC Upstate building its largest lead of the game, 47-40, with 4:54 left. Western Carolina would begin to chip away at the Spartan lead starting with a jumper by Hatfield with 4:13 left.

In fact, Hatfield scored six straight points for WCU, including going 4-for-4 from the free throw line to cut the USC Upstate lead to one, 47-46, with 1:36 left on the clock. The buckets by Hatfield set up the thrilling finish to regulation sending the game to overtime.

Along with Hatfield's career-high 10 points, Western Carolina also got 15 points from senior guard Taylor. It was the eighth straight game Taylor has scored in double figures. Senior Makensey Campbell put in a solid performance with eight points and tied her career-high with 10 rebounds.

For the game, Western Carolina shot 31.7 percent from the field while USC Upstate shot 29.9 percent. The Catamounts made the most of its 25 trips to the free throw line hitting 19 and shooting 76 percent. WCU also commanded the paint scoring 26 points and also got 13 second chance points.

Western Carolina will take a week off for finals before returning to action December 14 when it travels to Blacksburg, Va. to take on Virginia Tech. Tip time is set for noon.