Southern Illinois News

Women's basketball downs Webster in St. Louis

The women's basketball team topped the defending SLIAC champion Webster Gorloks 73-72 in Grant Gymnasium on Wednesday night, bringing to an end to Webster's 18-game winning streak over SLIAC opponents and tagging WU with their first loss at home since the 2021 SLIAC tournament final.

The Panthers were outscored for each of the first three quarters and trailed by five with four minutes left in regulation. However, the Panther experience and resiliency showed, and they outscored Webster 16-9 in the final quarter for the important road conference win.

A pair of layups by Ally Cantrill sandwiched around a Webster turnover brought the score to 68-67 in favor of Webster before the Gorloks called a 30 second timeout with 3:23 to go.

After the timeout, the Gorloks reestablished a five point lead at 72-67 with 1:44 left to play.

The Panthers received a basket from Madelyn Stephen after a 30 second timeout, and then Cantrill stole the ball and put it back into Stephen's hands for a layup making the score 72-71 with 55 seconds to go.

GU's defense stood up on Webster's next possession and gained a rebound on a missed three point attempt. With 22 seconds to play, Stephen was fouled and knocked down a pair of free throws to provide the Panthers with their only lead of the second half.

On the Gorloks' ensuing possession, Stephen blocked Webster's final shot and the Panthers walked off the floor with the win.

Emily Reinneck led GU's scoring effort with 19 points, and Stephen had Greenville's final six points to finish with 11 and a team high four assists.

Cantrill added 13 points.

Greenville's Abigail Reinneck was the team leader with seven rebounds, and Natalie Iberg finished with a team-high four steals. Iberg was followed closely by Cantrill's three steals.

The Panthers (10-4, 3-0 SLIAC) will square off with Fontbonne on Saturday at H.J. Long Gymnasium at 1 p.m.

Original source can be found here