CARLINVILLE, Ill. - Webster University Women's Basketball used a career high 27 points from freshman forward Julie Baudendistel (St. Louis, Mo./Lindbergh) and 24 points from senior guard Jaysea Morgan (Fisk, Mo./Twin Rivers) in its 99-68 victory over Blackburn College in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action at Dawes Gymnasium on the Blackburn campus. 

With the victory, Webster improves to 16-7 overall and moves into sole possession of first place in the league standings with a 14-2 mark following Fontbonne's 79-75 home loss on Saturday to Westminster (Mo.) College. In addition, the victory extended Webster's win streak to three straight games and puts the Gorloks in prime position to win the regular season SLIAC title outright for the first time since 2002 with two wins next week to conclude the regular season.

The 27 points by Baudendistel, which bettered her old career high 18 points set earlier this season against Spalding, were the most scored by a Gorlok in a game since Britt Harris-Conway scored 29 points at Westminster on Dec. 3, 2014 and it is also tied for 13th most points scored in a game in school history. The school's single game record for points is 33, which is held by four different players. 

In addition to Baudendistel's 27 points, Morgan's 24 points pushed her within six points of becoming the seventh Gorlok women's basketball player to score 1,000 points as she has now tallied 996 career points, which is seventh on the school's all-time chart. Morgan, who entered the game in eighth on the all-time scoring chart, passed Mikki McCune for seventh with her 24 points on Saturday. McCune scored 986 points as a Gorlok from 1994-98. 

Along with the two 20-plus point scorers, the Gorloks also got a double-digit scoring performance from junior guard Naomi Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Greenville University) as she finished with 13 points, while sophomore forward Taylor Zarr (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville) had eight point off the bench and junior forward Darieana Hunter (Norman, Okla./Norman) tallied seven points off the bench as Webster's bench scored 27 points in the win, including a 15-3 edge in bench points in the second half. 

Webster needed everyone of those combined 51 points from Baudendistel and Morgan as Blackburn (5-17, 3-13 SLIAC) rallied from 19 point first period deficit to pull within three points just about three into the third period. The Beavers outscored the Gorloks, 28-23 in the second period to cut Webster's lead to 51-43 at the half.

After the Beavers pulled within at 55-52 following a lay-up from Callista Francis, who had 14 points and 13 rebounds in the game, with 7:03 left in the third period, the Gorloks would close the period on a 21-8 run to lead 76-60 heading into the fourth period. In the third period, Baudendistel and Morgan combined for 16 of the 25 points. 

The fourth period belonged to the Gorloks as they outscored Blackburn, 23-8 thanks to shooting 59 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point line. Webster opened the period on a 16-5 run to push its lead to 92-65 following a lay-up by sophomore forward Taylor Zarr (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville) with 5:27 left in the game. Webster's lead would grow to as much as 44 points following a 3-pointer from freshman guard Tiffany Sakamoto (St. Louis, Mo./St. Joseph's Academy) with 44 seconds remaining. Sakamoto's trey capped the scoring and gave the Gorloks a 99-68 lead. 

Webster, who has now won 18 straight games in the series against Blackburn, jumped in front 9-0 in the opening 90 seconds of the game thanks to a combined nine points from Johnson and Baudendistel. The Gorloks eventually pushed its first period lead to as much as 19 points at 25-6 following a trey from junior guard Kiara Rhines (Glendale, Ariz./Ironwood), before the Beavers scored nine of the final 12 points of the period to cut Webster's lead to 28-15 after the opening 10 minutes. Baudendistel, Morgan and Johnson combined to score 20 of Webster's 26 points in the period. In addition, they forced nine turnovers that led to 13 points. 

Blackburn, who has now lost four consecutive games this season, came alive offensively in the second period as the Beavers shot 68 percent from the field to outscore the Gorloks, 28-23. The 28 points are tied for the second most points allowed by the Gorloks in a period this season. 

In the period, Webster scored 11 of the first 15 points to push out to a 39-19 lead following a 3-point play from Baudendistel with 6:53 left in the period. The Beavers, though, responded with a 19-7 run that cut Webster's lead from 20 to eight points at 46-38 with 1:57 left in the period. Blackburn's run was aided by nine points from Savannah Kruse, who finished with a game high 20 points on the day.

Following Blackburn's run, the Gorloks would score five straight points, including a trey from Morgan to push back in front 51-38, but the Beavers would close the half by scoring the final five points to give Webster its eight point lead at the half. 

Along with the 20 points from Kruse and the double-double from Francis, Jenna Dudra added 15 points, while Lexie Black tallied 10 points. Marie Cline nearly had a triple-double as she scored six points, dished out nine assists and pulled down a game high 10 rebounds. 

For the game, Webster shot 54 percent from the field and 56 percent from the 3-point line as they tied a season high with 10 made 3-pointers. The Gorloks have now shot 50 percent or better from the 3-point line in three consecutive games and five times in its last eight games overall. 

In addition, Webster was a perfect 15-for-15 from the free throw line in the game. That perfect day at the free throw line set a school record for single game free throw percentage as the previous record was an 18-for-19 effort (94.7 percent) at the line at MacMurray on Jan. 31, 2015. 

Blackburn, who shot 36 percent from the field and 50 percent from the field in the first half, finished Saturday's game shooting 49 percent from the field and 33 percent from the 3-point line. The Beavers, though, struggled at the free throw line as they were 8-for-17 (47 percent) at the line. 

The Beavers outrebounded the Gorloks, 36-27, but Webster held a 17-13 edge on the boards in the second half after getting outrebounded 23-10 in the first half. Sophomore forward Addison Beussink (Jackson, Mo./Saxony Lutheran) led Webster with five rebounds in the game.

Webster's defense forced Blackburn into 32 turnovers that led to 45 points and the Gorloks had 31 assists on 37 made baskets, including a career high nine assists from sophomore guard Lauryn Freeman (Fort Worth, Texas/Timber Creek). The Gorloks committed just 17 turnovers, including just eight in the second half.

The Gorloks will look to extend its winning streak to four consecutive games this coming Wednesday as Webster will conclude the regular season portion of its home schedule with a 5:30 p.m. contest against Eureka College (13-10 overall, 9-7 SLIAC). The Gorloks picked up a 90-70 win over the Red Devils on their home court in the first meeting this season on Jan. 18.