WEBSTER GROVES – Webster University is set to open its 33rd season of intercollegiate women's basketball this coming weekend as the Gorloks host its annual Webster Tip-Off Classic at Grant Gymnasium.
 
The Gorloks will open its own Tip-Off Classic on Friday, Nov. 15 against the University of the Ozarks at 8 p.m. and then will conclude the two-day, four-team event on Saturday, Nov. 16 at either 1 or 3 p.m. in the consolation or championship game depending on the results of Friday's action. The other game on Friday features Edgewood College facing Illinois College at 6 p.m.
 
Webster, who was picked to finish third in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll, welcomes back all five starters and 13 letterwinners from last season's team that recorded the program's third consecutive winning season and seventh winning season in the last 10 years.
 
"Our practices have been good leading into our season opener. Our players fully believe and trust in the process and are trying to better every day," Webster head women's basketball coach Jordan Olufson said. "I think we're a little bit behind from where we finished last season, but I'm excited with the way we've started to pick things up and our returners and new players are starting to gel as we head into Friday's opener."
 
One season after returning just 17 percent of its scoring, 17.7 percent of its rebounding and 11.5 percent of its minutes played, the Gorloks return 85.3 percent of its scoring, 78.3 percent of its rebounding and 83.3 percent of its minutes played from last season.
 
"A year ago at this time, we had a lot of moments in practice where we had a lot of freshman mistakes and now those moments aren't as much, we see them a little bit, but you can see they've kind of closed that gap, which we're excited about," said Olufson, who is entering his 12th season as the Gorloks coach. "We are still young, but I told them last year in the conference tournament that you're seasoned now and I think playing a full schedule and the postseason last year with the conference tournament was really good experience and I'm really happy with the maturation of our players as some of our players got a lot better over the offseason and we're excited and encouraged by where we are at."
 
Among the key returners for the Gorloks are senior guard Jaysea Morgan (Fisk, Mo./Twin Rivers), junior guard Naomi Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Greenville University), junior forward Kaylee Heggemann (Dutzow, Mo./Three Rivers CC), sophomore forward Addison Beussink (Jackson, Mo./Saxony Lutheran) and sophomore guard Hannah Cottrell (Steelville, Mo./Steelville).
 
Last season, Morgan was a Second-Team All-SLIAC performer and was named to the SLIAC All-Defensive Team last season after averaging 10.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 3.2 steals per game and shot 42 percent from the field and 80 percent at the free throw line, while Johnson averaged 10.4 points and 2.6 rebounds per game and shot 36 percent from the 3-point line and Heggemann averaged 9.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game and shot 43 percent from the field and 71 percent at the free throw line. Beussink, who was a Third-Team All-SLIAC performer and named to the SLIAC All-Tournament Team, averaged 12.5 points and 8.7 rebounds per game and Cottrell averaged 7.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game and shot 40 percent from the field and 74 percent from the free throw line.
 
"Jaysea has really improved even from this year to last year. Her role each year has gotten bigger and we're ask more of her this season," said Olufson when talking about Morgan, the team's lone senior. "She is a little more composed and very confident in her game this year and her three point shooting is phenomenal right now. The time she's put in and seeing her progress into her senior year, everyone knows she's a competitor, everyone knows she wants to win and has done a lot of the small details that we talk about.

"Jaysea is the true definition of what a Gorlok is on and off the court and we're blessed to have her on the team and looking forward to a big year from her."
 
Olufson said his team's four returning junior letterwinners have really progressed nicely this offseason and that is something he is looking forward to seeing once the season starts. Along with Heggemann and Johnson, the other two junior returners are forward Darieana Hunter (Norman, Okla./Norman) and guard Kiara Rhines (Glendale, Ariz./Ironwood). Hunter is expected to return to the line-up in either December or early January after fully recovering from knee surgery she had near the end of last season.
 
"I think all of them have progressed nicely and they have an understanding of what we're doing, what our expectations are and setting the standard for everyone else," Olufson added. "Naomi is really shooting the ball well from the perimeter. She is a sniper from the three-point line and will be a tough match-up as she is really hard to guard in a one-on-one setting and has worked on her defense. Kiara's work ethic has gone up from her freshman year to her sophomore and now this year it is even higher as she is shooting the ball a very high rate and you can tell she has put in a lot of time this offseason. Kaylee is such tough match-up because she's not truly a post, not truly a guard, but a tweener, that can not only hurt you from outside, but also when she drives and gets to the rim and is so strong. Her basketball savvy is really high and she always makes the right plays. Even Dari's offseason workouts have gone well and she is probably in better shape now than she was before the injury."
 
The two returning sophomore starters – Cottrell and Beussink – are expected to once again play big roles for the Gorloks this season and Olufson likes what he's seen out them heading into the 2019-20 season.
 
"Hannah's time at the point last year was a learning curve. In her first scrimmage last season she had 13 turnovers and in our first scrimmage this season she had one turnover. She has done a good job at knowing her personnel and how people want the ball and is just more confident," Olufson says when asked about Cottrell. "She is a great scorer and is starting to look to score more, which is really great because we need her to be a threat."
 
"Addi has really come along. She'll go get you 12 rebounds and you may not realize she has 12 rebounds. She is also doing a better job finishing and has gotten stronger," Olufson said about Beussink. "She is further along this season than she was a year ago and that is one thing about her that people might not know is that she wants to be better and has that mindset where it's never good enough and you appreciate that in a player."
 
In addition to two returning sophomore starters from last season, two role players that were freshmen last season have also improved during the offseason and expected to contribute more this season. Those two players are sophomore forward Taylor Zarr (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville) and sophomore guard Lauryn Freeman (Fort Worth, Texas/Timber Creek).
 
As a freshmen in 2018-19, Zarr averaged 3.9 points and 2.1 rebounds per game and also averaged nearly 12 minutes per game and shot 52 percent from the field, while Freeman averaged 2.8 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game and was fifth on the team with 34 steals.
 
"I mean Taylor (Zarr) right now in practice her focus has been through the roof. She's really been paying attention to the details and her shooting has really gotten better. You can tell she really put a lot of work in during the offseason and I expect you'll see her see some big minutes this year," Olufson said. "Lauryn started out practice on the sideline, but we've recently got her back and right now her midrange game is better than last year, but the pressure she puts on people with the on-ball defense is really good. We kind of think that Jaysea (Morgan) is one of the best defenders in the league, but it might be a 1A and 1B with Freeman, because her on-ball defense is phenomenal and she brings it every day and is a true competitor."
 
Olufson says that he is excited about the quality of depth his team has this season.
 
"I really believe that our bench players could potentially be starters and I think we've got eight or nine players that could start for us this season," added Olufson. "This team has a lot of leaders by examples. We have a lot of soft spoken players, but when they speak people listen."
 
The Gorloks tuned up for this season with scrimmages against both St. Louis Community College and Missouri S&T and Olufson said that those scrimmages helped him and his coaching staff learn about things they needed to work on heading into the regular season.  
 
"We learned was that we have to box out. I think that is something we struggled with a little bit last year and it seems like an area we've got to work on, the rebounding, the flaws of boxing out and just the timing of things," the Webster coach added. "A lot of sets, quick hitters and even motion stuff on offense is all about timing and some of that timing in off. We just have a lot of little polishing things that we really learned. I thought our effort was pretty good and we learned a lot from both the team side and individual side."
 
Olufson says that staying healthy, playing with energy and effort and shooting the ball better from the perimeter will be three of the big keys this season.
 
"We've got to stay healthy, get a little luck and I think if our energy and effort is high, especially on the press, than I think we'll be successful," said the Webster coach. "I also think that last year we didn't shoot the ball well, but I really feel good about our shooting this year and I feel like it will be a strength of ours this season, where last year it was kind of iffy at times."
 
While staying healthy, playing with energy and effort and shooting the ball are keys for this season, Olufson said that if his team doesn't rebound better it will be tough to win games.
 
"If we don't rebound and we give up a lot of second, third and fourth chance shots every time it's going to be tough to win games, because in a lot of games we lost last season, we gave up too many offensive rebounds," Olufson stated.
 
Perhaps one of the biggest strengths for Webster over the past few years has been the Gorloks ability to play defense and force turnovers as last season, Webster was second in NCAA Division III in steals per game (16.8), third nationally in turnovers forced (27.04 per game) and sixth nationally in total steals with 437. Over the last three seasons, the Gorloks have forced a total of 2,282 turnovers (28.9 per game) and has collected 1,330 steals (16.8 per game).
 
"The one thing that they have to still realize is every team in the country can press, but if you don't put the energy and effort into it, it's not going to be very effective," the Webster coach added "We've added a new wrinkle to our press with the kind of stuff we've been doing and I always kind of joke that we have more defensive stuff than we do offensive stuff, but our players are really picking it up and our players understand that you can have a bad shooting night, but you go get a couple of deflections, steals and a couple of lay-ups you feel good about it. I'm encouraged with where we're at. We have a lot of length with Addi, Taylor (Zarr), Kaylee and Julie and with the amount of speed, athleticism and length, we should be pretty good with our press stuff this year."
 
While the team returns 13 players from last season, Olufson has added four freshmen to his roster. The freshmen newcomers this season are forward Julie Baudendistel (St. Louis, Mo./Lindbergh), guard Christina Branche (Rio Linda, Calif./Monterey Trail), forward Ebonee Johnson (San Antonio, Texas/Taft) and guard Tiffany Sakamoto (St. Louis, Mo./Saint Joseph Academy).

"Julie has been a big surprise, not because we didn't know she could score, but she's really come in and worked hard and put herself into a position where I think she is going to see the floor a lot. She is still figuring out the press stuff and the defensive rotations, but she makes basketball plays, it's not anything we can teach, but she is making basketball plays and is shooting lights out and I think the combination of those two has put herself into a position to see the court and has moved up the depth chart," said the Webster coach. "Tiffany (Sakamoto) has really come on strong, is more confident and super-fast and now she has the confidence she can stay with people and her shooting has gotten better, so she is another player that is going to help us, especially at the point guard spot."
 
Friday's season opening opponent, University of the Ozarks, comes into the weekend sporting an 0-1 record after opening the 2019-20 season with a 70-63 loss to Rhodes College. The Eagles return three starters from last season's 13-13 team that advanced to the American Southwest Conference Tournament. In the Preseason ASC Coaches Poll, Ozarks (Ark.) was picked to finish fourth in the East Division.
 
Among the key returners for the Eagles are sophomore guard Kerigan Bradshaw, junior guard Kamryn McKinney and sophomore forward Hannah Weatherford. In the season opener against Rhodes, Bradshaw, who averaged over six points per game a season ago, scored 30 points. In addition to Bradshaw, McKinney averaged 5.8 points and Weatherford averaged 4.2 points per game.
 
"Ozarks is super guard oriented. They like to push the ball and they opened the season last weekend against a really good Rhodes team," Olufson said. "They (Ozarks) have a lot of fight. They can score (had a player score 30 against Rhodes) and they like to shoot the three, like to push and play a lot of 4-out stuff. They are a bit undersized, but they make up for it with how good their guard play is. In addition, they have a lot of depth, go 11 or 12 deep and that will present us with a big challenge on Friday night."
 
The other teams in the four-team event this weekend are Illinois College and Edgewood College, who open the Tip-Off Classic with a 6 p.m. game.
 
Edgewood, who is sporting a 2-0 record after opening the season with wins over Crown College (71-52) and North Central (Minn.) (104-78), comes into the season with an experienced team as the Eagles have eight juniors and six sophomores on the roster. Last season, Edgewood posted a 14-11 record and just missed earning a spot in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference.
 
Through two games this season, Edgewood has three players averaging in double figures as junior guard Alyssa Lemirande is averaging 13.0 points per game and is shooting 68 percent from the field, while junior guard Abby Shane is averaging 12.5 points and is shooting 78 percent from the 3-point line and freshman guard Emma Klein is also averaging 12.5 points and is shooting 47 percent from the 3-point line. As a team, Edgewood is averaging 86 points per game and is shooting 49 percent from the field and 37 percent from the 3-point line.
 
Illinois College, who was tabbed to finish eighth in the Preseason Midwest Conference Coaches' Poll, returns one full time starter and four others that started at least three games from last season's 10-15 team. The Lady Blues, who are 1-1 this season after splitting games last weekend at Westminster (Mo.) College as they lost 87-44 to the Blue Jays and then earned a 90-85 win over Greenville, have just three senior and feature 19 freshmen or sophomores on their roster.
 
The Lady Blues come into the weekend with three players averaging double figures in scoring, including senior guard Grace Yaunches averaging 15.5 points per game. The other two double-digit scorers are junior Megan Price (11.0 ppg and 6.0 rpg) and sophomore guard Krista Bass (10.0 ppg).
 
"In Edgewood, you're talking about a team that a couple of years ago went winless and now they went 14-11 last season. They are a team-driven program and their coach has done a good job," said the Gorlok coach. "I really think that Illinois College's guard play is really good and they played two SLIAC schools and split with those two teams. They are going to be feisty and will have ability to shoot it.
 
"I think this weekend is going to be really good and we're excited to get things going."
 
This weekend marks the ninth consecutive season that Webster is opening its women's basketball campaign with the Webster Tip-Off Classic. Since the event began in 2011, the Gorloks have posted an 11-5 record and have won six straight games in the event since falling 56-46 to Aurora in 2015. In addition, Webster has won seven straight season openers since suffering a 47-45 loss to Concordia-Chicago in the Webster Tip-Off Classic to open the 2011-12 season. Last season, the Gorloks opened the season with a 79-58 win over Belhaven.
 
Following this weekend's two games in the Webster Tip-Off Classic, Webster will return to action next Saturday, Nov. 23 as they host Covenant College in a 6 p.m. contest at Grant Gymnasium. Covenant earned an 83-74 win on its homecourt last season against the Gorloks.