WEBSTER GROVIES - Webster University Women's Basketball opened New Year here Wednesday evening by using a 33 point fourth period en route to posting a 79-62 victory over Eureka College in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action at Grant Gymnasium.

With Wednesday's victory, Webster improves to 9-3 overall and 4-1 in the SLIAC and extends its win streak to three straight games, while Eureka falls to 4-7 overall and 1-4 in the league. The win also extended Webster's home win streak in SLIAC play to six consecutive games dating to last season. 

The 33 point fourth period was the second highest scoring period of the season for the Gorloks and the most points scored in a period by Webster since tallying 37 points in the first period of its 99-45 home win over MacMurray College on Dec. 5. 

Webster's fourth quarter scoring spree was aided by 67 percent shooting from the field and also by connecting on 15 of 16 free throws. Entering the fourth period, Webster had made seven of its first 16 free throws and finished the game going 22-for-32 (68.8 percent) at the line. 

The Gorloks entered the final period of Wednesday's game holding a 46-44 lead, but WU opened the period on a 15-7 run to turn its two-point lead into a 10 point advantage at 61-51 with 3:59 left in the contest. The run was aided by seven points from freshman guard Lauryn Freeman (Fort Worth, Texas/Timber Creek). Freeman finished the game with a career-high 11 points, including scoring 10 of those 11 points after halftime. 

Josie Morgan stopped WU's run with a lay-up and free throw to complete a 3-point play at the 3:25 mark to cut the Gorloks lead to 61-54. That would be as close as the Red Devils would get as Webster would close the game by hitting 13 of 14 free throws and having sophomore guard Naomi Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Greenville University) score on a jumper with 2:58 and then making a trey with seven seconds left to cap WU's scoring. 

Junior guard Jaysea Morgan (Fisk, Mo./Twin Rivers) led the way offensively for the Gorloks with 18 points, including going 6-for-6 at the line in the final period. In addition to Morgan and Freeman, two other Gorloks tallied double figures as redshirt sophomore forward Kaylee Heggemann (Washington, Mo./Three Rivers CC) added a career-high 15 points and just missed a double-double as she pulled down a career-high nine boards and Johnson scored 11 points, all of which came in the fourth period and added six boards and five steals. 

Eureka, who has now lost six of its last eight games, used 46 percent shooting and two 3-pointers to jump out to an 18-14 lead after one period. 

The Gorloks, though, responded in the second period by outscoring Eureka, 16-13 to cut the Red Devils lead to 31-30 at the half. 

In the third period, Webster outscored Eureka, 16-13 to lead 46-44 heading into the final period. In the third period, the Gorloks held Eureka to 19 percent shooting from the field, while WU shot 46 percent from the field. In addition, the teams combined to go 10-for-20 (50 percent) from the free throw line as Eureka was 6-for-12 at the line and WU was 4-for-8 from the charity stripe. 

Morgan led Eureka with a game high 20 points, including scoring 13 of those points in the first half. In addition to Morgan's 20 points, Olivia Falls and Samantha Sarnes each scored 10 points for the Red Devils, while Sierrah Seals added nine points and eight boards in the loss. 

The Gorloks held EC's top two scorers on the season - Kennedy Dura and Ashley Harfst to a combined six points as Dura, who came into the game averaging 12.1 points per game, had six points while battling foul trouble and Harfst, who entered the game averaging 11.4 points per game, did not score on Wednesday, but had six of her team's game high 15 steals.

For the game, Webster shot 47 percent from the field and 46 percent from the 3-point line and held Eureka to just 33 percent shooting from the field and 47 percent from long distance as the Red Devils went 7-for-15 from downtown. 

Webster held a 42-36 edge on the boards as along with Heggemann's nine boards, Johnson, Morgan and freshman forward Addison Beussink (Jackson, Mo./Saxony Lutheran) each had six rebounds in the win. 

The teams combined for 43 turnovers as Webster forced 22 turnovers and scored 19 points off those turnovers, while Eureka forced 21 turnovers and scored 13 points off those 21 miscues. 

While Webster shot 69 percent at the line, Eureka finished shooting 68 percent (17-for-25) at the free throw line. 

The Gorloks will look to make it four straight wins on Saturday, Jan. 5 as they host Westminster (Mo.) College for a 1 p.m. SLIAC contest. The Blue Jays are one of three remaining undefeated teams in the SLIAC as they are 4-0 in league play and will host Spalding, who is also undefeated in league play, in a 5:30 p.m. game on Thursday, Jan. 3.