ST. LOUIS, Mo. – This evening the Webster University women's basketball team was back in action when they played host to the Fontbonne (Mo.) University Griffins in the SLIAC Tournament Semifinals. The top seeded Gorloks defeated the fourth seeded Griffins by a final score of 80-74 to improve to 23-3 on the season and advance to the SLIAC Final. With the loss, the Griffins season comes to an end with a 14-13 overall record.

The Gorloks went 35-for-68 (51.5%) from the floor and 3-for-14 (21.4%) from behind the arc. They outrebounded the Griffins by a final count of 36-29 and pulled down 13 boards on the offensive end. They forced Fontbonne to turn the ball over 23 times and turned those turnovers into 20 points on the other end of the floor. The Gorloks also dished out 23 assists while scoring 54 of their 80 points in the paint.

Webster came out in the first quarter of the game and jumped out to an early 10-3 lead in the first four minutes of the contest. They continued to play well as the quarter progressed and would end the period on a 10-5 run to take a 20-8 lead into the second. The Griffins would pick it up to start the second and went on a 13-8 run to cut the Webster lead to 28-21 with seven minutes to play in the half. The Gorloks would push their lead back out to double digits, but a 6-2 run from the Griffins to end the quarter would cut the Webster lead 40-34 at the break.

Fontbonne came out in the second half and cut Webster's lead to one with just over three minutes to play in the quarter. Webster would answer with a 9-2 run to end the period and would take a 61-53 lead into the fourth. The Gorloks would push their lead out to double digits in the first few minutes of the fourth, but another run from the Griffins would cut the lead to five late in the contest. Webster would hold them off down the final stretch of the game and solidify their spot in the SLIAC Tournament Final.

Bethany Lancaster led the way for the Gorloks as she finished with a career high 33 points while pulling down a team high 11 rebounds. Julie Baudendistel and Emily Wilson also finished in double-figures as Baudendistel finished with 19 while Wilson added 10. In addition, Kate Rolfes finished with a team high five assists.

The Gorloks will advance to the SLIAC Tournament Final where they will take on the Westminster (Mo.) College Blue Jays for the third straight season. The game is set to take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 25^th in Grant Gymnasium.