WEBSTER GROVES - A 19-0 spanning the final two minutes of the third quarter and the opening five minutes of fourth quarter here Saturday evening helped No. 2 seeded Westminster College rally from a 10 point deficit to post an 80-73 win over top-seeded and two-time reigning St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season champion Webster University in the championship game of the 2021 SLIAC Women's Basketball Tournament at Grant Gymnasium on the Webster campus.

The Gorloks were seeking to be the first team since Westminster in 2012 and 2013 to repeat as the SLIAC Tournament Champion, but instead, it was the Blue Jays that earned the school's third all-time SLIAC Tournament title and first since those back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013. Webster was looking to win fifth tournament title. 

With the setback, Webster ends the season with an 11-2 record and the loss snapped both the Gorloks' 11 game overall win streak and its 18 game home court win as Webster suffered its first loss at home since falling 89-82 in overtime to Spalding on Dec. 5, 2019. Westminster closes its season with a 12-3 record.

Both the 11 game overall winning streak and the 18 game home court win streak were both the fifth longest currently in NCAA Division III women's basketball. 

That 19-0 over a span of a combined seven minutes in the third and fourth quarters allowed the Blue Jays to turn a 58-48 deficit into a 67-58 lead with 5:19 left in the fourth quarter. Following that run, Webster would tried to mount a rally as they used a lay-up and a free throw from junior guard Lauryn Freeman (Fort Worth, Texas/Timber Creek) to snap its nearly nine minute scoreless drought to pull Webster within in six points at 67-61. 

Webster, though, would get no closer the remainder of the game as the Blue Jays would hit 7-of-8 free throws in the minute to hold the Gorloks at bay and seal snap a four-game losing skid to the Gorloks. 

Junior forward Addison Beussink (Jackson, Mo./Saxony Lutheran) led the way offensively for the Gorloks as she scored a game high 27 points and added 13 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season and 24th of her career, which is fourth on the school's all-time list. Beussink was one of two Gorloks named to the SLIAC All-Tournament Team as she averaged 21.0 points and 12.7 rebounds in three tournament games. With her 27 points, Beussink pushed her career scoring total to 966 points, which is ninth on the school's all-time chart. She enters the 2021-22 season needing just 36 points to become the eighth player in school history to score 1,000 career points and she moved to sixth on the career rebound chart with 545 career rebounds. 

The other Gorlok on the SLIAC All-Tournament Team was sophomore forward Julie Baudendistel (St. Louis, Mo./Lindbergh) as she finished with nine points and seven rebounds in Saturday's title game and averaged 14.7 points per game in three tournament games and moved over the 500 point mark in her two year career as the 2020-21 SLIAC Player of the Year has now scored 512 career points entering the 2021-22 season. 

In addiiton to Beussink and Baudendistel, two other Gorloks finished in double figures as junior guard Hannah Cottrell (Steelville, Mo./Steelville) added 12 points, eight assists and four steals, while senior guard Naomi Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Greenville University) had 11 points and five rebounds in the loss. 

"My heart so much for our team! Such a battle tonight and we had a ton of adversity to try to combat," Webster head women's basketball coach Jordan Olufson said following his team's first loss since opening the 2020-21 campaign with a 71-66 setback at Greenville on Feb. 24. "They came into the game champions and still leave champions, but this one stings for many reasons. This team has been through so much with delays and uncertainty of the season. Waiting so long and then earning a SLIAC championship in the regular season, shows you how amazing and talented this group of young women are."

Saturday's game marked the final contest in the careers of two of Webster's three seniors as guard Kiara Rhines (Glendale, Ariz./Ironwood) and forward Darieana Hunter (Norman, Okla./Norman) completed their careers against Westminster. Rhines scored two points in 18 minutes of action off the bench, while Hunter did not play and in fact, missed almost the entire season after suffering a season ending knee injury early in the season opener against Greenville. A third senior, Johnson, is expected to return to complete her playing career in 2021-22 as a fifth-year senior.

"I am so thankful for our seniors - Kiara (Rhines) and Darieana (Hunter). They have so much for and this progam," said the Webster coach. "I truly appreciate each person and love this team and it was a true honor to coach them this season."

After the Gorloks tied the game at 34-all at the half following two free throws by Beussink with less than a second left in the opening half, the Blue Jays would open the second half by scoring the first six points of the second half to take a 40-34 lead following a trey from Abbie Reece. Reece was named the MVP of the SLIAC Tournament as she scored 26 points in the title game, including tallying 17 of those points in the second half. 

Following Reece's trey, the Gorloks would respond with a 15-4 run capped by a 3-pointer from Baudendistel to take a 49-44 lead with 4:40 left in the third quarter. In fact, a lay-up by Beussink with 4:54 left in the period gave Webster its first lead since Beussink scored on a lay-up with 1:12 left in the second quarter. 

After Reese Arnold made two free throws just eight seconds after Baudendistel's trey, the Gorloks would use a 9-2 run capped by two free throws from Cottrell with 2:03 remaining in the third quarter to give the Gorloks a 58-48 lead. That lead would be the largest of the game for the Gorloks. 

Westminster got off to a strong start in the title game as they scored the first four points of the game and led 8-4 when the Gorloks used a 9-2 run that began with two Beussink free throws and was capped by a basket from Beussink to take a 13-10 lead with 3:52 left in the opening quarter. Both teams would close the quarter by scoring three points each to give Webster a 16-13 lead after 10 minutes of play.

The Gorloks would extend its first quarter lead to as much as five points following a lay-up by Freeman just a little over two minutes into the second quarter. Freeman's lay-up made the score, 20-15 in Webster's favor. 

Westminster, though, would respond with a 15-4 run over the next four-plus minutes to turn a 20-15 deficit into a 30-24 lead with 3:25 left in the quarter. The Gorloks would come right back and score eight straight points to take a 32-30 lead with 1:12 remaining in the half. Westminster would score four of the final six points of the half with Beussink's two free throws helping Webster force a 34-all time at the half. 

Along with Arnold's 26 points and 11 rebounds, Avylina-Powel-Qualo scored 15 points and eight boards for the 'Jays, while Shelby Kurtz tallied 12 points and seven boards to also earn a spot in the SLIAC All-Tournament Team. Two other Blue Jays just missed double figues as Abbie Reece and Madison Schaffer each scored nine points and combined for 14 boards off the bench. 

The Gorloks finished the night shooting a season-low 35 percent from the field and they went 5-for-21 (23.8 percent) from the 3-point line. It marked the first time this season that Webster had shot under 40 percent from the field in a game. The Gorloks shot under 34 percent in three of the four quarters on Saturday. 

Webster was also outrebounded 53-37 and outshot 32-19 on the free throw line as the Blue Jays were 23-for-32 (71.9 percent) from the line on the night, including going 16-for-20 at the line in the second half. Webster was 14-for-19 from the free throw line, but was just 6-for-8 at the line after halftime. 

The Gorloks forced Westminster into 31 turnovers that led to 26 points, but the Blue Jays scored 28 points off of Webster's 20 turnovers. Webster had 17 assists and 16 steals. 

Both teams combined for 16 blocks in the game as Westminster blocked nine shots, including three by Reece, while Webster blocked seven shots, including three by Beussink and two each from Baudendistel and Cottrell.

In addition to Arnold, Kurtz, Baudendistel and Beussink, the other members of the SLIAC All-Tournament Team were Eureka's Olivia Falls and Greenville's Madelyn Stephen.