CARLINVILLE, Ill. – Webster University used a 41-point first half here Wednesday evening enroute to posting to a 75-45 victory over Blackburn in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference at Dawes Gymnasium on the Blackburn College campus.
 
With the victory, the Gorloks, who have scored 40 or more points in the first half in three straight games and five times in their last six games, extended its win streak to seven straight games and improved its record to 18-5 overall and 12-3 in the SLIAC. Blackburn dropped its seventh straight game and its record fell to 2-21 overall and 0-15 in the league.
 
Entering Wednesday's game, Webster was tied for second in the league standings with Eureka and needed two wins coupled with two losses by Greenville in its final two games of the regular to have a shot at claiming a share of the regular season SLIAC crown. Despite doing its part by winning at Blackburn, Greenville (19-5 overall, 14-1 SLIAC) didn't help the Gorloks out as they picked up a road win Wednesday at Spalding to earn the regular season SLIAC title and the right to host to the SLIAC Women's Tournament next weekend.
 
Senior forward Aley Lucas (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) picked up her sixth straight double figure scoring game as she tallied 13 points, including scoring seven in the second half. In addition to Lucas, senior guard Kelsey Miller (Elizabeth, Ind./Maryville) added 10 points, four rebounds and six steals. For the game, Webster picked up 25 steals as along with Miller, sophomore guard Jade Sawyer (Republic, Mo./Republic) picked up a career high six steals on the night.
 
The 25 steals came off of 38 Blackburn turnovers, which led to 23 points for the Gorloks. 23 of those turnovers came in the first half to help Webster hold a 41-16 lead at the half. Webster finished with 16 turnovers.
 
Webster opened the game by scoring the first 11 points and held the Beavers scoreless for the first four-plus minutes of the opening period until Kaylee Pedigo scored her team's first basket with 5:32 remaining. Following Pedigo's basket, the Gorloks used a trey from Miller and lay-up by Aley Lucas to push out to a 16-2 lead with 4:19 left in the opening period.
 
Blackburn would score six of the period's final eight points to drop Webster's lead to 18-8 after the opening 10 minutes.
 
Webster would open the second period on a 9-0 run to push out to a 27-8 lead with 5:39 left in the period. Much like the first period, WU's defense would hold Blackburn scoreless for a little over six minutes before Kate Smith drilled a trey with 3:50 left to give the Beavers their first points of the second period.
 
The Gorloks would answer Smith's trey with a 14-5 run to extend its lead to 25 points at the half.
 
After Blackburn opened the third period by scoring 13 of the first 19 points of the third period to drop WU's lead to 47-29 with 5:30 remaining in the period. The Gorloks, though, would use a trey from senior forward Megan Brandt (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) to jump start a 12-7 run to close the period to push its lead to 59-36 after three periods.
 
The run was keyed by five points from junior forward Natalie Busscher (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) and three points from freshman guard Kylie Shoot (Ashland, Mo./Southern Boone). Busscher finished with seven points in the win, while Shoot tallied nine points off the bench.
 
In the fourth period, the Beavers scored the first four points to push within 61-38, before the Gorloks scored 10 consecutive points to push its lead to 71-38 with 3:28 left in the game. The run was capped by back-to-back treys from Shoot and senior Terri Dearth (Lemont, Ill./Southwestern Illinois).  The Beavers would then close the game by outscoring the Gorloks, 7-4, to set the final margin. In the period, Blackburn outscored the Gorloks, 20-18.
 
Blackburn was paced offensively by 11 points from Smith, while Jenna Dudra added 10 points and 12 rebounds.
 
Despite 38 turnovers by the Beavers, Blackburn would hold a 55-40 edge on the boards as Gariel Pierce picked up 13 boards in the setback.
 
Webster finished the game shooting 37 percent from the field and 37 percent from the 3-point line, while Blackburn finished shooting 24 percent from the floor and 19 percent (3-for-16) from long distance.

In addition, both teams were solid at the free throw line as Webster was 14-for-19 (74 percent) at the line and Blackburn went 14-for-16 (88 percent), all of which came in the second half.
 
The Gorloks will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 17 as they close out the regular season with a 3 p.m. SLIAC contest at Greenville University. Webster suffered an 81-79 loss to Greenville at home on Jan. 13.