Blue Jays and Gorloks Meet For Trilogy

It will be a familiar matchup for SLIAC fans on Saturday when Webster University hosts Westminster College in the 2023 Women's Basketball Championship. After wins by both teams in the semifinals, it marks the third consecutive season that the two teams will meet for the title with each team winning once in the series. 

Semifinals - #3 Westminster College defeated #2 Greenville University, 82-79
BOX SCORE

Westminster is making a familiar trip, to the SLIAC Women's Basketball Championship game. This marks the third consecutive season the Blue Jays will appear in the championship game after defeating Greenville on a last-second shot in the semifinals on Friday night. The tightly player game featured 14 ties and 26 lead changes with Shelby Kurtz accounting for the final lead change of the game, a corner three at the buzzer. 

Greenville opened the game with what would be a theme, a three-pointer. The Blue Jays followed with a three of their own and the two teams would end up both connecting on double-digit threes in the game. Greenville fell behind 18-11 mid-way through the first quarter before a late run ended with a Madelyn Stephen layup to put them up 23-22 after ten minutes of action. The second quarter again saw Westminster open up a lead before the Panthers clawed their way back in, going into halftime down 38-37.

Greenville jumped out to a lead in the third quarter with Savana Powell-Goodman hitting back-to-back buckets to put the Panthers up 49-45. Greenville extended that lead to 59-47 after a Stephen three but this time it was the Blue Jays making a late run, tying it up at 62 after three quarters. Westminster led by five before Greenville took a 79-76 lead after a pair of free-throws by Carolina Hoffman with 1:43 on the clock. A steal by Annette Ramirez gave the Blue Jays the ball back with four seconds left. The Blue Jays were able to go the length of the court and draw a foul with 1.1 seconds left, allowing head coach Talisha Washington to draw up a play for the Blue Jays. The play worked as Shelby Kurtz popped out in the corner off a screen for a three-pointer at the buzzer that found the bottom of the net.

Semifinals - #1 Webster University defeated #4 Fontbonne University, 80-74
BOX SCORE

Despite a game that had no lead changes and in which Webster lead for 38:46 of game time, the outcome was not always a given thanks to Fontbonne's three-point attack. Webster jumped out to a 20-8 lead after one quarter but the Griffins' long-range shooting kept them in the game. They connected on nine three-pointers in the opening half including two in the final minute to go into the break down 40-34. Webster meanwhile fed the ball inside where Bethany Lancaster put up 19 first-half points. 

The Griffins' hot shooting continued in the second half, bringing them to within two points at 44-42 after a Kya Harbour three with 7:47 on the clock in the 3rd quarter. Minutes later a Madison Nelson three brought the Griffins within one point but Julie Baudendistel answered back for the Gorloks with a triple of her own on the next possession. Up by just two the Gorloks went back to Lancaster who continued to finish and helped the Gorloks open the game up. Lancaster finished the game with a career-high 33 points on 14-of-20 shooting while adding 11 rebounds.

Fontbonne finished with 16 threes in the game, tying for the 5th most in SLIAC history. Ja'mise Bailey had a team-high 21 points for the Griffins.

Championship Information

• #1 Webster and #3 Westminster will play on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Webster University.
• This marks the third consecutive championship game featuring the two teams, with Westminster winning in 2021 and Webster in 2022. 
• Webster has won 5 SLIAC Championships while Westminster has won 3 in its program history.

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