WEBSTER GROVES - Webster University opened its women's basketball season here Friday evening by outscoring Belhaven 41-19 in the second and third quarters en route to posting a 79-58 win over the Blazers in the Webster Tip-Off Classic at Grant Gymnasium.

With the victory, Webster has now won seven consecutive season openers since falling 47-45 to Concordia (Chicago) in the first game of the Webster Tip-Off Classic in 2011. In addition, Webster improved to 10-5 all-time in its own Tip-Off Classic and has won five straight games in the eighth-annual event since falling 56-46 to Aurora in 2015. Belhaven fell to 0-2 on the season. 

The Gorloks, who return just five players that saw action on last season's 20-7 squad that won the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in school history, had three players finish in double figures in the game as junior Jaysea Morgan (Fisk, Mo./Twin Rivers) tallied a career-high tying 19 points and added six assists and three steals, In addition to Morgan, freshman forward Brylee Manes (Republic, Mo./Republic) and freshman guard Hannah Cottrell (Steelville, Mo./Steelville) each had 12 points in their collegiate debuts. 

After watching Belhaven jump out to a 22-19 lead after the first period, the Gorloks opened the second period on a 7-3 run run to take a 26-25 lead following a lay-up by Morgan with 6:56 left in the period. After a free throw by Lauren Brooks retied the game at 26, Webster responded with an 11-3 run over the final five-plus minutes of the period to take a 37-29 lead at the half. WU's run was keyed by six points from freshman forward Taylor Zarr (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville) and capped by a lay-up with 25 seconds by Cottrell. 

After outscoring the Blazers, 18-7 in the second period, the Gorloks would outscore Belhaven 23-12 in the third period to extend its lead to 60-41 heading into the final 10 minutes of the contest. In the third period, WU shot 60 percent from the field, including converting all four of its 3-point shot attempts and held Belhaven to 29 percent shooting from the field, including an 0-for-4 effort from long distance. In the period, Morgan, freshman guard Caity Jones (West Plains, Mo./Thayer) and freshman forward Addison Beussink (Jackson, Mo./Saxony Lutheran) each scored six points as they combined to score 18 of WU's 23 points in the period. 

The Blazers opened the scoring in the third period on a lay-up by Peyton Papenburg, before the Gorloks answered with a 15-4 run following a trey by Morgan with 4:10 left in the period to give WU a 52-35 lead. After Autumn Covington connected on two free throws to stop WU's run, Jones would hit two treys and freshman guard Alyssa McByers (Leander, Texas/Leander) would score on a lay-up to push WU's lead to 66-40 with 48 seconds left. 

Webster's lead would eventually grow to as much as 26 points following a lay-up and a free throw to complete a 3-point play by sophomore forward Darieana Hunter (Norman, Okla./Norman) with 7:10 left in the game. Hunter's 3-point play made the score, 69-43. 

The Blazers would close the fourth period on a 15-8 run to cut the gap to 19 points with 1:58 left, before freshman guard Amaya Baker (McDonough, Ga./Union Grove) capped the game's scoring with a lay-up with 56 seconds left. 

In addition to Morgan, Manes and Cottrell, Beussink, Jones and Zarr each scored six points in the win. For the game, Webster played 14 players and 11 of those 14 players scored at least two points on the night.

Belhaven was paced by 13 points from Brittany Ford, including scoring seven of those 13 points in the first period, while Aaliyaha Thornton finished with 10 points and Brooks added nine points in the loss. 

Webster finished the night shooting 48 percent from the field and 54 percent (7-for-13) from the 3-point line, while Belhaven shot 34 percent from the field and 17 percent (2-for-12) from the 3-point line. 

Both teams struggled at the free throw line as they went a combined 30-for-51 from the charity stripe as WU was 12-for-19 (63 percent) at the line and the Blazers going 18-for-32 (56 percent) at the line. The game featured a total of 44 fouls being called, including 24 in the first half, which led to a total of 30 free throws being shot in the opening 20 minutes. 

Webster forced 29 Blazer turnovers and scored 32 points off those turnovers and had 14 steals, including four from Cottrell and three from Morgan. WU finished with 20 turnovers and had 23 assists, including six assists apiece from Cottrell and Morgan. 

The Gorloks will conclude its season opening Webster Tip-Off Classic on Saturday, Nov. 17 with a 3 p.m. game against Concordia (Chicago), who fell 60-44 to Spalding in Friday's opening game of the Webster Tip-Off Classic.