WEBSTER GROVES - Webster University women's basketball continued its strong play on its home court here Friday evening at Grant Gymnasium as the Gorloks posted a hard-fought 87-72 victory over Illinois College in its lone scheduled non-conference game of the 2020-21 season.
The victory, which was the Gorloks sixth straight on the year and improved its record to 6-1 on the season, was Webster's 14th consecutive on its home court as the Gorloks haven't lost at home since suffering an 89-82 overtime loss to Spalding on Dec. 5, 2019. The 14 game win streak is the sixth longest active streak in NCAA Division III women's basketball.
Friday's win was keyed by the offensive play of junior forward
Addison Beussink (Jackson, Mo./Saxony Lutheran) and sophomore forward
Julie Baudendistel (St. Louis, Mo./Lindbergh) as they combined for 49 points and 18 rebounds and scored 20 of Webster's 49 second half points, including tallying 20 of its 30 fourth quarter points.
Beussink finished with a career high 25 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for her third double-double of the season and 19th of her career, while Baudendistel scored a season high 24 points and added seven rebounds and a career-high five steals.
Along with the 20-plus point nights from Beussink and Baudendistel, two other Gorloks scored in double figures as junior guard
Hannah Cottrell (Steelville, Mo./Steelville) had 12 points, seven rebounds and eight assists, while senior guard
Naomi Johnson (St .Louis, Mo./Greenville University) had 10 points in the win.
The game featured the teams committing a combined 47 fouls and shooting a combined 51 free throws. In addition, both teams struggled to take of the basketball as they combined for 53 turnovers as Illinois College had 29 turnovers and Webster finished with 24 turnovers. Both team committed 16 turnovers each in the first half.
Webster was whistled for 23 fouls as three players had four on the night, while the Lady Blues were called for 24 fouls as four players had three or more fouls. The Gorloks also held and edge on the free throw line as they were 24-for-27 (89 percent) at the line, including a 13-for-14 effort in the fourth quarter to hold off an IC rally. IC was 20-for-24 (83 percent) from the line, including going 15-for-18 at the line in the second half.
"So proud of how our guards put pressure on them (Illinois College) defensively tonight," Webster head coach
Jordan Olufson said following the game. "I am even prouder of how our bigs attacked and weren't afraid of the bigger IC team. I'm extremely happy with our team, but we still have a ton to clean up, but getting better each time."
Despite the combined 32 turnovers in the opening half, the teams still managed to each score 30-plus points and shoot a combined 49 percent from the field as Webster held a 38-32 lead at the half.
After holding its six point lead at the half, the Gorloks would open the third quarter on an 11-6 run to push in front 49-38 following two free throws by Beussink with 6:08 left in the quarter. The Lady Blues, who fell to 7-5 on the year, would answer with a 12-6 run that was capped by a lay-up from Lilly Pepper with 1:43 left in the quarter to cut WU's lead to 55-50.
Baudendistel would give the Gorloks a 57-50 lead heading into the final quarter following her lay-up with 16 seconds left in the third period. Baudendistel's lay-up came off a long pass down court by Beussink.
The lay-up by Baudendistel to cap the third quarter scoring seemed to ignite the Gorloks as they opened the fourth quarter on a 12-0 run to push out to a 69-50 advantage nearly two minutes into the quarter. The 19 point was the largest of the game for the Gorloks. Johnson began the quarter with a lay-up and free throw to cap a three-point play and Baudendistel drilled a trey to close the run.
After two straight baskets IC dropped WU's lead to 69-54, Beussink would score six of the game's next eight points to push the Gorloks lead back to 19 at 75-56 with 5:53 remaining. IC wouldn't go away as they used an 8-2 run to drop Webster's lead to 77-64.
That would be as close as the Lady Blues would get as the Gorloks used a 9-4 run to push back in front by as much as 18 points following a lay-up by Baudendistel with 1:44 left in the game. Baudendistel's lay-up made the score, 86-68. IC would close the game by scoring four of the final six points to set the final score.
IC put four players in double figures led by Junie Zirkelbach, who had 15 points, five rebounds and five assists. In addition to Zirkelbach, Megan Price added 14 points, while Krista Bass totaled 13 points and Pepper had 11 points and six boards.
Turnovers were the story of the first quarter as the teams combined for 15 in the opening 10 minutes of the game as Webster led 19-15 after one quarter. In the quarter, Webster shot 57 percent from the field and 50 percent from the 3-point line. Beussink (6) and Johnson (5) combined for 11 points in the quarter.
IC opened the second quarter on an 8-4 run to pull within 23-21 just a little over three minutes into the quarter. The Gorloks, though, answered with a 7-2 run to push in front 30-23 after a lay-up by freshman forward
Bethany Lancaster (Buffalo, Mo./Buffalo) with 4:32 left in the quarter. IC would then score six of the next eight points to drop WU's lead to 32-29.
The Gorloks, who faced Illinois College for the first-time in the school history in women's basketball on Friday, closed the first half on a 6-1 run, including Cottrell scoring back-to-back baskets late in the quarter to send Webster to it 38-30 halftime lead.
For the game, Webster shot 41 percent from the field and 27 percent (3-for-11) from the 3-point line, while IC shot 44 percent from the field, but just 15 percent (2-for-13) from long distance.
The two teams each had 39 rebounds and Webster recorded 24 assists on 30 made baskets as along with Cottrell's eight assists, junior guard
Lauryn Freeman (Fort Worth, Texas/Timber Creek) added five assists. The Gorloks also had 18 steals.
IC blocked seven shots and dished out 18 assists and had 14 steals.
The Gorloks, who are tied with Westminster for first place in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action, will return to SLIAC play this Tuesday, March 23 as they travel to Louisville, Ky., for a 5:30 p.m. ET game with Spalding University. Webster opened its home schedule this season with an 86-63 win over the Golden Eagles on March 3.
