WEBSTER GROVES – The fourth-seeded Webster University Gorloks are set to meet No. 1 seeded Greenville University in the semifinal round of the 2019 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament on Thursday, Feb. 21 at 8 p.m. in H.J. Long Gymnasium on the campus of Greenville University in Greenville, Ill.
The winner of Thursday's semifinal game will advance to Saturday's 1 p.m. championship game against the winner of Thursday's first semifinal game that features No. 2 seeded Spalding University (19-6, 14-2 SLIAC) facing No. 3 seeded Westminster College (19-6, 12-4 SLIAC). The Spalding-Westminster semifinal game is scheduled to tip-off at 6 p.m.
Webster, who is making its league-record 19th all-time appearance in this year's SLIAC Tournament and is the defending SLIAC Tournament champion, enters the postseason sporting a 17-8 overall record and they finished fourth in the SLIAC with a 10-6 league mark. The Gorloks come into the tournament having won two of its last three games and six of its last 10 games overall with three of the four losses coming to Spalding, Westminster and Greenville and the other one coming at Eureka. WU closed out the regular season on Saturday with a 78-69 setback at home to Greenville, who claimed its second straight outright regular season title with the win.
Meanwhile, Greenville, who are the back-to-back regular season SLIAC Champions, comes into the tournament having won four straight games and 13 of its last 14 games overall with the only loss being a 75-65 setback at Spalding on Feb. 6. Greenville finished the regular season with a 21-4 record and posted a 15-1 record in league play for the second straight season. The 21 wins marks the fourth consecutive season that Greenville has won 20 or more games in a season.
Thursday's game will mark the third meeting this season between the two schools and the 58th all-time in the series as Greenville holds a 32-25 edge in the series, including sweeping both regular season meetings this season for the second consecutive year. Greenville, who has won six straight games in the series since the Gorloks picked up an 80-69 win in Webster Groves on Nov. 30, 2016, picked up a hard-fought 73-68 win over the Gorloks in Greenville on Jan. 16 and then closed out the regular season this past Saturday with a 78-69 win over Webster at Grant Gymnasium. The Gorloks are facing Greenville in the SLIAC Tournament for just the second time ever as No. 2 seeded Greenville defeated the No. 3 seeded Gorloks, 61-52 in the semifinals of the 2017 tournament hosted by Eureka College.
For the second consecutive season, all four teams making the trip to Greenville for the SLIAC Tournament have won at least one SLIAC Tournament championship trophy. The four teams in this year's tournament have made a combined 52 appearances, won a combined eight titles and have posted a combined record of 28-40. Webster has made the most appearances with 19, while Westminster is making its 18th appearance. Webster has won the most titles among the four teams in this year's tournament with three, while Spalding and Westminster have each won two titles and Greenville won the title in 2016. In fact, seven of the last eight schools to win the SLIAC Tournament are playing in this year's field.
Webster comes into Thursday's semifinal game with Greenville with one of the top offensive and defensive teams in the league as they lead the league in steals per game (16.9), turnover margin (+6.0) and turnovers forced (26.9) and is second in the league in scoring offense (76.9 ppg), scoring defense (59.6 ppg), field goal percentage (43.3 percent), field goal percentage defense (36.8 percent), 3-point field goal defense (28.1 percent), scoring margin (+17.3), assists per game (17.3) and rebound margin (+8.9). In the latest NCAA Division III national statistics, Webster is third in steals per game and second in overall steals (423) and fifth in turnovers forced. Additionally, WU is third among all NCAA women's basketball programs at all levels in both total steals and steals per game.
Leading the way for Webster are freshman forward
Addison Beussink (Jackson, Mo./Saxony Lutheran), junior guard
Jaysea Morgan (Fisk, Mo./Twin Rivers) and sophomore guard
Naomi Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Greenville University). Beussink is leading the way as she is averaging 12.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game and has recorded a team-best nine double-doubles, including tallying double-doubles in two of her last three games, while Morgan is averaging 10.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 3.2 steals per game and Johnson is averaging 10.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game and is shooting a team-best 36 percent from the 3-point line.
Other key performers for the Gorloks are redshirt sophomore forward
Kaylee Heggemann (Washington, Mo./Three Rivers CC) and freshman guard
Hannah Cottrell (Steelville, Mo./Steelville). Heggemann, who scored a WU season high 26 points and pulled down 11 boards in this past Saturday's game against Greenville, is averaging 9.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game and has recorded two double-doubles and has scored 20 or more points in both of this season's games against Greenville, while Cottrell is averaging 8.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.4 steals per game and has a 1.2 assist/turnover ratio on the season.
Webster is coached by
Jordan Olufson, who is in his 11th season at the helm of the Gorloks. In his 11 years at Webster, Olufson has compiled a 167-119 record and is 112-70 in SLIAC regular season games. His 167 wins are the most in program history. He has led Webster to seven winning seasons, including three straight winning seasons, eight SLIAC Tournament appearances and two SLIAC Tournament titles and two NCAA Tournament appearances in 2011 and 2018.
Meanwhile, Greenville comes into the match-up with Webster a lot like the Gorloks as they are also one of the top offensive and defensive teams in the league. On the season, Greenville is third in the league in scoring as they average 75.8 points per game, but they lead the league in scoring defense (57.6 ppg) and also lead in field goal percentage (43.6 percent), blocks per game (3.8), opponents field goal percentage (34.6 percent), opponents 3-point field goal percentage (25.4 percent), assists (18.8) and 3-point field goal percentage (34.3 percent). Additionally, the Panthers are fifth in NCAA Division III in assists per game.
Leading the way for Greenville is senior forward Wesley Woodard. Woodard is averaging a team-best 13.7 points per game and is shooting 56 percent from the field and 79 percent from the free throw line. In addition to Woodard, two other Panthers average in doubles figures – senior guard Jantzen Michael and junior forward Morgan St. James. Jantzen is averaging 11.2 points, 2.6 assists and 2.4 steals per game and is shooting 44 percent from the field and 37 percent from the 3-point line and has hit 43 treys in 25 games, while St. James comes off the bench and is averaging 10.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game and is averaging 2.0 blocks per game as she has blocked 45 shots, which is second in the league.
Other key performers for Greenville are junior forward Emily Brandland and sophomore guard Megan Barrett. Brandland is averaging 9.8 points and a team-best 6.2 rebounds per game and is shooting 43 percent from the field and 34 percent from the 3-point line and in SLIAC play, she averaged 10.2 points and 6.3 boards per game, while Barrett is averaging 6.0 points and 4.3 rebounds per game and is shooting 39 percent from the floor and 35 percent from downtown.
Greenville head coach Roy Mulholland is in his 20th season with the Panthers and has compiled a 290-241 overall record and has led the team to four straight 20 win seasons, five straight SLIAC Tournament appearances and took home SLIAC Coach of the Year honors a season ago.
Webster has posted a 10-15 all-time record in the SLIAC Tournament and is making its third consecutive appearance and seventh in the last nine seasons. Webster won the tournament in both 2011 and 2018 and was the runner-up in both 2012 and 2013. Last season, Webster earned the No. 3 seed and opened the tournament with a 56-52 semifinal win over No. 2 seeded Eureka and then defeated No. 4 seeded Westminster, 63-61, in the championship game to bring home the trophy and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in school history. Since the tournament was reinstated by the league in 2005, the No. 1 seed has won the title a total of 10 times, but only once in the last three years has the No. 1 seeded brought home the championship trophy. In fact, Webster, who is looking to become the first team to repeat as tournament champions since Spalding won back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015, has won two of its three tournament titles as the No. 3 seed and also claimed the title as a No. 2 seed. A No. 4 seeded team has never won a tournament title and Westminster last season was the first ever No. 4 seeded team to reach the title game since 2005.
Greenville is making its 10th all-time appearance and fifth consecutive appearance in the tournament and has posted a 3-8 record in the tournament. Greenville has played in two of the last three tournament title games as they won the tournament in 2016 and were runners-up to Eureka in 2017.
The champion of the SLIAC Tournament will receive the league's automatic bid to the 2019 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament, which is scheduled to begin play on Friday, March 1. The NCAA will announce the 64 team field selected for this year's championship tournament on Monday, Feb. 25.
