By Olivia Russell
The No. 17 Bellarmine women’s basketball team faced its biggest challenge this season in an 83-75 loss to No. 23 Quincy University in Great Lakes Valley Conference play. The Knights fell to 11-1 overall and 5-1 in the GLVC.
Free throws proved to be the game-changer. In the eight-point deficit, the Knights failed to connect on nine chances from the line, eight of those in the second half.
The Knights struggled making routine baskets, hitting just 35.7 percent of field goal attempts. Bellarmine shooters did not shoot well from behind the arc either, draining only three 3-pointers in the game.
Raven Merriweather led the Knights with 14 points. Sarah Galvin added 13 points and Destony Curry had 12.
Following the first loss of the season, Merriweather said her team remains optimistic about what the rest of the season holds.
“Coach Dugan always says that the good thing about basketball you know there’s another game,” she said. “We’ll learn from this game but we’ll erase it from our memories for sure.”
Assistant coach Shannon Litton said she also sees this as a learning opportunity.
“Our effort was there,” Litton said. “We just have to sharpen up on some possessions and take better shots. They were a senior team and we let them senior us.”
Moving forward, Litton said she hopes that this young squad can learn to play with maturity beyond their experience to avoid games like this again.