By Mary Ringwald, Sports Writer
The Bellarmine University women’s basketball team readied itself for a dogfight Saturday against the Indianapolis Greyhounds.
The preparation paid off as the Knights toppled their Great Lake Valley Conference foe 70-50 in Knights Hall.
“It’s a big rival of ours,” said GLVC Player of the Week Sarah Galvin. “They always have been. We knew it was going to be tough from the beginning, but we just started out strong and ended it (strong).”
Bellarmine (15-2, 9-2) showcased its strength in its best offensive and defensive performance of the season. The Knights outshot Indianapolis (6-15, 4-7) by more than 10 percent and outrebounded them 39-29. Bellarmine also hit seven 3-pointers.
Galvin led Bellarmine with 14 points and nine rebounds. Other top scorers included freshman center Ally Mayhaus with 11 points, junior guards Whitney Hartlage and Destony Curry with 10 points apiece and sophomore forward Beth Bowers with eight points.
The Hounds’ Princess German had a game-high 19 points, and Nicole Anderson scored 11 points.
“This whole week we have been working on moving the ball in our offense,” said Galvin. “I think it is really coming together, which is good. I mean it’s mid-January. It is when we want things to come together.”
The Knights’ defensive prowess shined through their full-court press. The Knights hassled the Hounds into 18 turnovers.
“The full-court press definitely effected us,” said Indianapolis head coach Constantin Popa, “and a short bench doesn’t help. We couldn’t keep up the pace.”
Bellarmine head coach Chancellor Dugan said her team worked hard to keep Indianapolis out of scoring position.
“I thought we were aggressive,” said Dugan. “We made (Indianapolis) rush, and anytime you rush, you are going to make bad decisions. I thought we did a nice job of shooting gaps and helping each other.”
The Knights fell behind during the first 90 seconds of the game but regained the lead for good on a Galvin 3-pointer with 8:05 to play in the first quarter.
Bellarmine led by as many as 24 points with 5:45 left in the game when Bowers hit an inside jumper.
The Knights move deeper into conference play as they travel to Missouri S&T and Drury University this Thursday and Saturday respectively.