(St. Louis, Mo.) – The Webster Gorloks second half rally came up just a bit short in its 67-61 loss to the Fontbonne Griffins at Fontbonne in the SLIAC opener for both squads on Wednesday night.

            The Gorloks (2-3, 0-1 SLIAC), struggled out of the gates early connecting on only two of their first 10 shots and turned the ball over four times in the first six minutes falling behind 11-4. Wendy Dunn (Sparta, Ill.) provided an offensive spark for WU scoring eight points in a 13-7 run which cut the Griffins (1-3, 1-0 SLIAC), lead to one on three different occasions, and they had some great chances to take the lead but were unable to convert on the opportunities. Fontbonne took control of the game with a 20-6 run building its largest lead of the stanza at 38-23 before Webster scored the final five points of the half to cut the deficit to 10 at the break. After its slow start WU offense finishing the half 11-of-35 from the floor and turned it over nine times but were outrebounded by a 30-12 margin and 20-6 on the defensive end.

            Dunn led the Gorloks with 10 points in the frame, while Jacquelyn Wamser (St. Louis, Mo.) chipped in with eight.

            The second half was a seesaw battle over the first 10 plus minutes which saw neither side take control of the contest. The Gorloks would cut the Griffins lead to 50-47 with more than six minutes remaining but a 7-0 run by Fontbonne pushed the lead back to double digits. Webster went back to its full court pressure defense forcing turnovers to trim the lead to six with 2:41 remaining. The Griffins would push the lead back to nine, but a pair of threes from Wamser in the final minute cut the lead to three with 0:24 left after a Fontbonne free throw pushed the lead back to four, the Gorloks shot a quick three that missed and the Griffins sealed the game with a lay-up for the final margin

            The Gorloks shot better from the floor in the second half knocking down 13-of-30 (43 percent) but were only 3-of-10 from downtown and shot 44 percent from the charity stripe (4-of-9). Webster outrebounded the hosts by a 20-18 margin in the second half.

            Wamser finished the game as the leading scorer for the Gorloks with 19 points, eleven in the second half. Dunn was the only other WU player in double digits with 11 points. Julie McGirl (Potosi, Mo.) grabbed 12 boards to lead the way for Webster.