WEBSTER GROVES - Webster University continued its strong play on its home court here Tuesday evening as the Gorloks scored a season high 51 first half points and used a strong defensive effort that forced 32 turnovers that led to 39 points en route to earning an 83-41 win over Iowa Wesleyan University in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action at Grant Gymnasium.

The victory, which improved Webster to 3-1 overall and 3-1 in the league, helped extend its homecourt win streak to 12 consecutive games dating to last season. The Gorloks haven't lost at home since dropping an 89-82 overtime loss to Spalding on Dec. 5, 2019. 

Junior forward Addison Beussink (Jackson, Mo./Saxony Lutheran) paced four Gorloks in double figures with 17 points and added eight rebounds, while senior guard Naomi Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Greenville University) added 15 points and sophomore forward Julie Baudendistel (St. Louis, Mo./Lindbergh) tallied 14 points. The fourth double-digit scorer was junior guard Lauryn Freeman (Fort Worth, Texas/Timber Creek), who had 11 points, three rebounds and four assists. 

Two other Gorloks just missed scoring in double figures as junior guard Hannah Cottrell (Steelville, Mo./Steelville) tallied eight points, all of which came in the second quarter and added four assists and three steals, while freshman forward Emily Ederer (Doniphan, Mo./Doniphan) had eight points and six rebounds off the bench. 

The Gorloks 39 points off of IWU's 32 turnovers was just two points off of what the Tigers scored in the game. The 41 points were the fewest points allowed by the Gorloks in a game since holding Principia to 36 points last season in a 115-36 win on Feb. 8, 2020. 

After allowing the Tigers to score 18 points in the first quarter, the Gorloks held the Tigers to single digits over the next three quarters as they scored eight points each in the second and third quarters and had seven points in the fourth quarter. 

Along with forcing 32 turnovers, the Gorloks collected a season-high 21 steals as nine of the 11 Gorloks that played collected at least one steal with Beussink leading the way with four steals, while Baudendistel, Cottrell and senior guard Kiara Rhines (Glendale, Ariz./Ironwood) each had three steals on the night. 

Webster scored the first seven points of the game and led 14-7 when the Tigers, who had just six players in uniform for Tuesday's game, used a 6-2 run to cut WU's lead to 16-13 with 1:45 left in the opening quarter. Af3ter senior guard Naomi Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Greenville University) pushed the Gorloks in front 18-13, Hannah Sykora drilled a trey to cut the Webster lead to 18-16 with 1:06 left in the opening quarter. The would trade points to close out the quarter to give WU a 20-18 lead. 

In the second quarter, Webster used a 15-0 run over a span of nearly five minutes to turn a 27-22 lead into a 42-22 advantage. The run was aided by eight points from Cottrell, who scored 11 of her xx points in the first half. 

IWU's Chris Heimann would halt the Tigers' nearly five minute scoring drought with a lay-up with 3:31 left in the first half, but the Gorloks would close the half on a 9-4 run to take a 51-26 lead at the half. 

The Gorloks shot 59 percent from the field in the first half and forced 18 turnover that led to 25 Gorlok points. In fact, Iowa Wesleyan had one more point in the half than the Gorloks scored on the Tiger turnovers. 

Webster opened the third quarter on a 9-2 run to push its 25 point halftime lead to a 60-28 edge just four minutes into the period. After back-to-back baskets from Anija Simmons cut WU's lead to 28 points at 60-32, the Gorloks would score six of the final eight points in the quarter to push out to a 66-34 lead heading to the final quarter. 

The Gorloks lead would grow to as much as 44 points at 81-37 following two free throws from freshman forward Bethany Lancaster (Buffalo, Mo./Buffalo). Webster outscored the Tigers, 17-7 in the final quarter. 

Simmons paced the Tigers offensively as she scored 16 points and pulled down seven rebounds, while Heimann finished with nine points and seven boards in the loss. 

After shooting 59 percent from the field and 60 percent from the 3-point line in the first half, the Gorloks cooled off in the second half as they shot just 34 percent from the field and 25 percent from long distance to finish the game shooting 46 percent from the floor and 44 percent from the 3-point line. 

IWU finished the game shooting 39 percent from the field and 25 percent from the 3-point line. 

The Gorloks also held a 44-27 edge on the glass, including collecting 20 of those boards on the offensive end and those 20 offensive boards led to a 16-4 edge in second chance points for the Gorloks. 

Webster will look to make it four consecutive wins as they remain at home to host Greenville University in a 5:30 p.m. SLIAC contest on Friday, March 12. The Panthers picked up a 71-66 win over the Gorloks in Greenville, Ill., to open the 2020-21 season on Feb. 24.