FULTON – A chance presented itself at the end for a tie, but the Webster didn’t quite seize it as the Gorloks fell in their St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener to Westminster Wednesday, 77-74.

Two Blue Jay free throws with two seconds left gave the home team a three-point lead. Following a timeout, WU executed its inbound play and had a wide open shooter in the corner, but didn’t quite get it to her as time expired.

A slow start to the second half put Webster behind the proverbial eight-ball as Westminster opened the stanza on a 12-2 run. The spurt allowed the homestanding Blue Jays to open its first double-digit lead of the game.

However, the Gorloks clawed themselves back into the game – cutting their deficit to one point on several occasions. But each time they did, Westminster answered on the next possession.

Despite playing nearly the first half without their leading scorer, freshman Blaire Underwood the Gorloks played well for portions of the first stanza. Underwood was forced to the bench a mere 43 seconds into the game with two fouls. Webster went on a 10-3 run midway through the opening half to open up an eight-point lead – its largest of the game.

Unfortunately, the good fortune didn’t last long as WC went on a run of its own to take a lead into the locker room.

Junior Julie McGirl turned in her best performance of the season with her first double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. She added four steals and three assists. Freshman Courtney Brown added 16 points with two assists, two steals and one rebound. For the fourth time this season, Webster Groves native Underwood tallied double figures with 11 points. Rounding out the double-figure quartet was freshman Ayrica Lockett with 10 points.

Webster (2-3 overall, 0-1 SLIAC) will host MacMurray 1 p.m. Saturday in its SLIAC home opener.

NOTES
• Junior Julie McGirl recorded her second double-double of her career. McGirl became the first Webster player this season to lead the team in scoring twice.
• Webster recorded a season-high four blocks as sophomore Katy Meyer tied her career-high of two. It was the fourth time in her career and second time this season she reached the plateau.
• The Gorloks fell to 1-3 on the season when trailing at halftime.
• It was the third time Webster scored at least 70 points, and is 1-2 in those games.
• The three-point loss was the first time the Gorloks lost a game decided by five points are less.

QUOTES
Head Coach Jordan Olufson
Initial comments
“We played hard tonight, and we gave our team a shot to win. It just didn’t work out for us.”

On playing without leading scorer Blaire Underwood in the first half
“We knew people had to step up. We stuck to our plays, there really wasn’t a lot of adjusting. We stayed consistent to our style of play.”

On the run that opened the second half
“They played better, faster and stronger than we did. I told them in the timeout, ‘all they were doing was outworking us’

On the next step
“We have to prepare better. It starts tomorrow at practice with the coaches and the players. Our preparation has to get better.”