The win was mostly stress-free for Dugan as the Knights shot 60.7 percent from the field and led nearly wire-to-wire and by as many as 31 points.
Senior Raven Merriweather paced the Knights with 25 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the field. She also nailed three of her four 3-pointers and both of her free throws.
Bellarmine had no shortage of outstanding performances today as Allison Van Dyke recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds; Liza Tibbs dropped in 19 points, and Beth Bowers contributed 19 points and six rebounds.
Perhaps the most impressive statistic for Bellarmine was shooting an incredible 92 percent (12-of-13) in the third quarter as they pushed an 11-point halftime lead to 21 by outscoring the Rangers 30-20 in the period.
Bellarmine’s dominating performance is evident in the final statistics, which show the Knights with a 41-26 rebounding advantage and holding Parkside to just 37.5 percent shooting. The Knights’ defense also limited the Rangers to just six 3-pointers on the day, which is well below their season average.
Dugan humbly brushed aside her 100th win accomplishment saying, “That’s a lot of great players and assistant coaches. They get the wins; I’ll take the losses.”
The coach, now in her sixth year, was proud of the squad’s defensive effort, especially limiting the Rangers to just six treys. “We just put that defense in yesterday,” she said. “We keep our bigs down low and have our guards chase everything on the perimeter.”
With the win, Bellarmine improves to 8-7 and evens its Great Lakes Valley Conference mark at 3-3. The Rangers fall to 6-11 overall and 2-3 in league play.
The Knights return to action Monday night as they host No. 22 Southern Indiana at 5:45 p.m.
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by John Spugnardi
