EDWARDSVILLE, Ill.—The Bellarmine University women's basketball team saw its 2017-18 season come to an end on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Great Lakes Valley Conference championship as the Knights fell to Missouri-St. Louis 77-47.

The fourth-seeded Tritons took control early.  After the teams traded baskets, UMSL reeled off a 12-0 run, and the fifth-seeded Knights never recovered.

Shooting woes hampered Bellarmine all night while the Tritons opened by shooting 63 percent in the first quarter and finished just under 50 percent for the game. Conversely, the Knights hit just 16 of 55 field goals in the game for 29.1 percent, leading to a season-low 47 points.

Exacerbating Bellarmine's problems were turnovers. The Tritons turned 20 Bellarmine turnovers into 24 points, while the Knights scored just 13 on UMSL's 14 miscues.
Bellarmine trailed 29-10 after one quarter and the margin grew to 24 by halftime.

However, the Knights came out fighting in the third period and sliced into the Triton lead to 16 on two occasions.  Bellarmine seemed to run out of steam as the turnover bug came back in the final minutes of the third quarter.  Missouri-St. Louis then closed out the game by outscoring the Knights by nine in the fourth period.

Arielle Jackson led four double digit UMSL scorers with 19 while Raven Merriweather was the Knights leading scorer with 12. Merriweather finishes her career with 1,420 points, which ranks ninth on BU's all-time list.

Also finishing up her player career at Bellarmine was Beth Bowers, who totaled 939 points in her four years.

The Knights end the season 16-12 while Missouri-St. Louis wins its 14th in a row to improve to 21-5 on the season. The Tritons advance to meet top-seeded Drury in the semifinals on Saturday.
 
BOX SCORE (HTM)