ST. CHARLES, Mo.—The Bellarmine University women's basketball team won its first ever Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship tournament title with an 89-78 victory over Quincy today in Family Arena. 

The championship is Bellarmine's fourth GLVC crown in women's basketball, but the first three came before a postseason tournament was instituted in 1998. With the win, the Knights secured an automatic berth in the Division II NCAA Tournament, although the Knights were largely viewed as a lock to get a bid entering the conference tournament.

In today's game, the third-seeded Knights got off to a slow start, falling behind 8-2 in the early minutes, but they outscored Quincy 22-6 the rest of the first quarter to take the lead they would never surrender. 

In the second quarter, the Hawks made a late charge to trim a 17 point deficit to just nine at halftime. However, the Knights came out of the locker room and immediately built the lead to 23 at the 4:01 mark of the third quarter.

The Hawks, who were the No. 4 seed in the tourney, closed the gap in the fourth quarter, but Bellarmine held onto a comfortable lead throughout. Quincy scored the game's last four points to make the final margin 11.

Sarah Galvin, who was named the tournament's most valuable player, poured in 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the way for the Knights. Sophomore Raven Merriweather continued her good play with a career high 23 points and joined Galvin on the All-Tournament team.

Mackenzie Martinez also had another great day for the Knights. The senior point guard tallied 16 points and dished out six assists.  All 16 players saw time on the court with 10 hitting the scoring column.

As a team, the Knights had another solid game, getting it done on both ends of the court. On offense, Bellarmine shot 53.2 percent and dished out 17 assists.  Defensively, the Knights forced 19 turnovers and converted those into 29 points.

"These kids have just played so hard," said Bellarmine Coach Chancellor Dugan. "They bought into what we wanted to do and they play for each other.  I told them in January that I know what a championship team looks like and they have the makings of one.  I told them they had to work harder and,  they had to do what we told them to do and they did  it."

Bellarmine—ranked No. 24 in the USA Today Coaches Poll—improves to 24-3 on the season.  Quincy , which came in with a No. 22 national ranking, falls to 25-5 overall.

BOX SCORE (HTM)