GREENVILLE, Ill. – A lay-up by senior guard Kelsey Miller (Elizabeth, Ind./Maryville University) with 18.1 seconds left here Friday evening helped seal Webster University's 56-52 win over Eureka in the semifinals of the 2018 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament at H.J. Long Gymnasium on the Greenville University campus.
 
Miller's lay-up gave the third-seeded Gorloks a 55-52 lead and senior forward Megan Brandt (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) hit 1-of-2 free throws with three seconds left to push Webster's lead to four points.  
 
With the victory, Webster improves to 19-6 overall on the year and advances to Saturday's 7 p.m. championship game where they will face fourth-seeded Westminster, who defeated top-seeded Greenville, 73-67 in Friday's second semifinal. It will be Webster's fifth trip in program history to the championship game and first since 2014 when they fell 60-58 at Spalding. Eureka, who was the defending SLIAC Tournament champion, closes the year with an 18-8 record.
 
"I couldn't be prouder of our girls than I am right now. What a tremendous game tonight by our team," Webster head coach Jordan Olufson said. "I thought our team laid it out there tonight. I really thought our defense tonight was tremendous, especially the defensive job we did on (Hayley) Reneau."
 
Reneau, who was named the SLIAC Player of the Year following the conclusion of Friday's game, entered the game averaging a league-best 22 points per game, but was held to just seven points on 3-of-12 shooting from the field. In fact, Reneau was held to just one basket in the second half, which came just 50 seconds into the third period.
 
"To hold a player like Hayley under 10 points is tremendous," said Olufson, who improved to 5-5 all-time in the SLIAC Tournament as Webster's coach.
 
The 56 points by the Gorloks was their second lowest scoring output of the season and the fewest points they scored in a win in 56 in a 56-50 win at Augustana (Ill.) on Nov. 28, 2015. Webster scored 49 points in a loss earlier this season at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
 
"We showed a lot of heart and composure to grind out it out in a low scoring game that was different than what were used too," said Olufson, who improved to 149-111 as Webster's head coach.
 
While Miller had the big basket in Friday's game, the Gorloks offense was paced offensively by senior forward Taylor Lucas (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan), who finished with 13 points and nine rebounds in the win. In addition to Lucas, two other Gorloks scored in double figures as Taylor's twin sister, Aley Lucas (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) had 10 points, including scoring eight of those points in the first half, and Miller added 10 points, all of which came in the second half.
 
Eureka, who trailed 46-43 entering the fourth period, tied the game on a 3-pointer by Kennedy Dura just 24 seconds into the period and then took the lead at 48-46 just 35 seconds later on a lay-up by Lexi Dooley. The Gorloks, though, would answer with a 5-0 run that began with a trey from Miller and was capped by two Aley Lucas free throws to give Webster a 51-48 lead with 6:06 left in the game.
 
That lead, though, would be shortlived as the Red Devils scored four straight points, including using a lay-up by Ashley Harfst to retake the lead at 52-51 with 3:15 remaining.
 
Harfst finshed the night with a game-high 20 points, while Kennedy Dura added 11 points in the loss for Eureka. Harfst scored 11 of her 20 points after halftime.  
 
Harfst lay-up would be the final points of the game for Eureka as the Red Devils missed their last six shots over the final three minutes of the game.
 
Following Harst's lay-up, Webster senior guard Ebony Bailey (Dolton, Ill./John Wood CC) hit two free throws with 3:07 left to give Webster a 53-52 lead they would not relinquish.
 
Both teams played to a 27-all tie at the half as Webster won the first period, 15-11, while Eureka outscored the Gorloks, 16-12 in the second period.
 
In the third period, Eureka scored six of the first eight points to push out to a 33-29 lead with 8:48 left in the period and the Red Devils would hold the lead until Webster used a 9-2 run to take a 44-39 lead with 1:21 left in the period. The run began with a bucket by Miller and was capped by a lay-up from Taylor Lucas.
 
After two free throws from Harfst stopped Webster's run, sophomore guard Jaysea Morgan (Fisk, Mo./Twin Rivers) hit two free throws with 41 seconds left to push WU's lead back to five at 46-41. Eureka, though, would close the period with a lay-up by Samantha Sarnes to drop WU's lead to 46-43 heading into the final period.
 
Webster, who is making its league-high tying 18th SLIAC Tournament appearance this season, jumped out to a 13-5 lead nearly six minutes into Friday's semifinal game as the Lucas sisters combined to score 10 of those 13 points, but Eureka would score six of the final eight points of the period to drop Webster's lead to 15-11 after the opening 10 minutes.
 
In fact, Eureka would open the second period by scoring the first four points to tie the game at 15. After Aley Lucas scored on a lay-up to stop Eureka's run and give WU a 17-15 lead, the Red Devils, who was seeking to become the first repeat SLIAC Tournament champions since Spalding won back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015, scored 10 of the next 12 points to push out to a 25-19 lead. That lead would be the largest of the game for Eureka.
 
A trey from freshman guard Kylie Shoot (Ashland, Mo./Southern Boone) and five straight points from Taylor Lucas helped the Gorloks retake the lead at 27-25 with 1:14 left in the second period. Harfst would close the scoring in the period with two free throws with 10 seconds left to force the tie at the half.
 
Webster finished the game shooting 36 percent from the field and 26 percent from the 3-point line, while holding Eureka to 31 percent shooting from the field and 24 percent shooting from long distance.
 
Eureka held a 40-39 edge on the board as Dooley picked up 13 boards, while Kerrigsn Dura had nine boards in the loss. While Taylor Lucas had nine rebounds, Aley Lucas added eight.
 
Webster forced 15 turnovers and the Gorloks committed 14 turnovers in the win and recorded a season low four steals. Webster entered the game fifth in Division III in steals per game as they were averaging 17.2 per game.
 
The Gorloks finished the night 10-for-11 (90.9 percent) at the line, while Eureka shot 64 percent (9-for-14) from the charity stripe.