WEBSTER GROVES - Webster University women's basketball opened defense of its St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament title here Wednesday evening as the top-seeded and two-time reigning SLIAC regular season champion Gorloks scored a season high 98 points in posting a 98-47 win over eighth-seeded Blackburn College in the quarterfinal round of the 2021 SLIAC Tournament. 

The Gorloks, who are the defending SLIAC Tournament champions, had three players score 20 or more points in win, including freshman forward Bethany Lancaster (Buffalo, Mo./Buffalo) tallying a career-high 20 points and pulling down a career-high nine rebounds off the bench. The other two 20 point scorers for the Gorloks were sophomore forward Julie Baudendistel (St. Louis, Mo./Lindbergh) leading the way with 22 points, while junior Addison Beussink (Jackson, Mo./Saxony Lutheran) adding 20 points and 14 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season. Beussink, who tied a school SLIAC Tournament record with the 14 rebounds, also had four assists and five steals in helping the Gorloks to its 17th consecutive home court win streak, which is the fifth longest active streak in NCAA Division III. 

With the win, Webster improves to 10-1 on the season and advances to a 7 p.m. semifinal match-up on Friday, April 9 at home against fourth-seeded Eureka, who picked up an 85-58 home win on Wednesday against fifth-seeded Spalding University. Blackburn closes its season with a 1-10 record. 

The 98 points were the most ever scored by the Gorloks in a SLIAC Tournament game in school history as it bettered the old mark of 83 against Maryville in 2005. Along with setting a new school SLIAC Tournament mark for points scored, the Gorloks also set new school SLIAC Tournament records in Wednesday's win for made field goals (38), field goal attempts (79), rebounds (56), assists (28) and steals (27). 

While its offense exploded for 98 points and had four players score in double figures, including those three 20-plus point scorers, the Gorloks defense was also strong as they forced Blackburn into 34 turnovers that led to 46 points, which was one shy of the total points scored by Blackburn in the game. In addition, Webster's defense collected a season high 27 steals and held a 56-31 edge on the boards, including pulling down a season-high tying 27 offensive boards as Beussink and junior guard Hannah Cottrell (Steelville, Mo./Steelville) each had seven offensive boards. 

Along with Baudendistel, Beussink and Lancaster's 20-plus point games, the fourth double-digit scorer was Cottrell as she had 12 points and added five assists and three steals, while freshman forward Emily Ederer (Doniphan, Mo./Doniphan) had seven points and eight rebounds off the bench. 

For the game, 10 of the 11 Gorloks that played in the game scored at least two points and 10 of the 11 had at least a rebound and all 11 players had at least one steal in the win with Beussink leading the way five, while Cottrell, Lancaster, senior guard Naomi Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Greenville University) and freshman forward Rachel Drennan (Parker, Colo./Rock Canyon) each had three steals. 

Webster's bench held a 36-3 edge in bench points and the Gorloks had a 62-16 advantage in points in the paint and 27 second chance points. 

The Gorloks scored the first five points of the game and led 9-2 just four-plus minutes into the game, before Blackburn scored eight of the next 10 points to pull within 11-10 following a trey from Hanna Box, who paced Blackburn with 12 points. After Blackburn's run, the Gorloks would close the first quarter on a 10-0 to take a 21-10 lead after the opening 10 minutes. Baudendistel, Beussink and Cottrell combined for 16 of those 21 points, while Beussink had 10 of her 14 rebounds in the quarter.

Webster would continue that hot play in the second quarter as they opened the quarter on a 20-6 run to push out to a 41-16 lead following a lay-up by Cottrell with 5:02 left in the quarter. The Beavers would then use two lay-ups from Courtnee Riley to cut WU's lead to 42-20, the Gorloks would close the quarter on an 8-4 run to take a 50-24 lead at the half. Lancaster and Cottrell combined for 15 of Webster's 29 points in the quarter and the Gorloks scored 21 points off of Blackburn's 13 turnovers in the period.

The Gorloks would outscore Blackburn, 32-14 in the third quarter as they shot 61 percent from the field and got nine points apiece from Baudendistel and Beussink to push its lead to 82-38 heading into the fourth quarter. 

In the fourth quarter with the outcome of the game in hand, the only question would be is if the Gorloks would reach the century mark for the first time this season, but completed the scoring on a lay-up by freshman guard Jordyn Grimes (St. Louis, Mo./Fort Zumwalt North) with 35 seconds left in the game. Grimes' score gave the Gorloks a 51-point lead at 98-47, which was its largest lead of the game for the Gorloks. 

In addition to Box's 12 points, Mariah Hopson added 11 points and Aryanna Harris finished with 10 points and five assists, but committed six turnovers. Riley added seven points, nine rebounds and eight turnovers. 

The Gorloks finished the game shooting 48 percent from the field and 42 percent from the 3-point line. Blackburn shot 31 percent from the field and 29 percent from the 3-point line. 

Webster also dished out 28 assists on its 38 made baskets as junior guard Amaya Baker (McDonough, Ga./Union Grove) dished out a career-high six assists. 

Webster committed 16 turnovers on the night and that led to just seven points for Blackburn. 

Both teams struggled from the free throw line as Webster shot 59 percent (17-for-29) from the line, while Blackburn went 9-for-17 (53 percent) from the line.