WEBSTER GROVES - Playing in front of a season high of a little over 1,000 fans inside Grant Gymnasium here Saturday afternoon, Webster University jumped out to an early 14 point lead, but couldn't hold on as Greenville University rallied to post a 78-69 women's basketball victory in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season finale for both teams. 

With the setback, Webster concludes the regular season with a 17-9 overall record and a 10-6 mark in the SLIAC, while Greenville won the regular season SLIAC title outright for the second consecutive season as the Panthers improved to 21-4 overall and 15-1 in the league. Greenville, who also went 15-1 in league play last season, will serve as the host school for next week's SLIAC Tournament, which begins on Thursday, Feb. 21. 

The Gorloks, who earned the No. 4 seed in the tournament, will face top seeded Greenville in the second of two semifinal match-ups on Thursday, Feb. 21 at 8 p.m. The other semifinal will pit No. 2 seeded Spalding (19-6, 14-2 SLIAC against No. 3 seeded Westminster (19-6, 12-4 SLIAC) at 6 p.m. on Thursday. The semifinal winners will meet in the championship game on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 1 p.m. with the winner of the tournament earning the SLIAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Basketball Tournament. 

Webster got off to a fast start in Saturday's regular season finale as they scored the game's first basket just 16 seconds into the game and led 21-7 with a little over three minutes left in the first quarter. The opening run by the Gorloks was aided by a combined 17 points from redshirt sophomore forward Kaylee Heggemann (Washington, Mo./Three Rivers CC) and freshman forward Addison Beussink (Jackson, Mo./Saxony Lutheran). Heggemann scored nine points and Beussink had eight points. 

The Panthers, though, would respond by closing the quarter on an 11-0 run to cut the Gorloks lead to 21-18 after the opening quarter. Greenville's run was keyed by four points apiece from Jantzen Michael and Morgan St. James. 

In fact, Greenville's run grew to 15-0 as they opened the second quarter by scoring the first four points to a 22-21 lead. Sophomore guard Naomi Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Greenville University) helped WU retake the lead following two free throws just 90 seconds into the quarter. 

Johnson's two free throws helped ignite an 8-4 run by the Gorloks that gave them a 31-26 lead with 5:24 left in the quarter. GU answered with an 11-1 run to retake the lead at 37-32 with 1:02 remaining in the quarter. After Heggemann hit one of two free throws with four seconds left to cut GU's lead to 37-33, St. James would drill a shot from just over half-court right before the buzzer to give the Panthers a 40-33 halftime lead. 

Heggemann finished the game with a career high 26 points and added a career-high tying 11 rebounds for her second career double-double. Heggemann's previous career high of 21 came earlier this season against Greenville. The 26 points are the most scored in a game by a Gorlok since Taylor Lucas scored 26 points at Eureka on Feb. 1, 2017. 

In addition, Beussink also finished with a double-double as she scored 14 points and pulled down 13 boards for her team leading ninth double-double of the season. In addition to Heggemann and Beussink, Johnson and junior guard Jaysea Morgan (Fisk, Mo./Twin Rivers) each had nine points for the Gorloks. 

After trailing by seven at the half, Webster used a 14-5 run over the final four minutes of the third quarter to turn a 51-42 deficit into a 57-56 deficit after three quarters. In the quarter, Heggemann, Beussink and freshman guard Caity Jones (West Plains, Mo./Thayer) combined for 13 of WU's 23 points. Heggemann had seven points, while Beussink and Jones each had six points in the quarter. 

The fourth quarter belonged to the Panthers as they outscored the Gorloks, 21-13 to hang on for the win and collect its second straight regular season SLIAC title. Despite getting outscored in the final quarter, the Gorloks did make things interesting down the stretch as they used a 6-2 run over a span of nearly three minutes to pull within one point at 69-68 following two free throws by Morgan with 2:10 left in the game. 

Brittany Lopez would give GU a 71-68 lead 21 seconds later on a lay-up, before Johnson made 1-of-2 free throws with 1:32 left to pull the Gorloks with two at 71-69. That would be as close as the Gorloks would get as Greenville made seven of 10 free throws and held the Gorloks scoreless over the final 1:13 of the game to seal the win. 

Michael paced Greenville with 18 points, while St. James added 15 points and six rebounds off the bench before fouling out late in the game. The third Panther in double figures was Emily Brandland as she tallied 13 points and six boards in the win. The Gorloks defense held Greenville's leading scorer, Wesley Woodard, to just two points in the game. Woodard entered the game averaging 14.2 points per game on the season. 

For the game, Webster shot 38 percent from the field and was just 2-for-14 (14.3 percent) from the 3-point line. Greenville shot 48 percent from the field and 29 percent (2-for-7) from the 3-point line. 

Webster held a 43-33 edge on the glass, including collecting 18 offensive boards and had 12 assists, including four by Morgan. 

The Gorloks forced the Panthers into 20 turnovers that led to 20 points, while Greenville scored 26 points off of WU's 22 turnovers. 

Both teams also combined to shoot 65 free throws in the game as total of 54 fouls were called in the game. Webster was whistled for 29 fouls and was 19-for-27 (70.4 percent) from the line, while Greenville was called for 25 fouls and went 26-for-38 (68.4 percent) from the line, including going 11-for-15 at the line in the fourth quarter.