ROMEOVILLE, Ill.--The Bellarmine University women's basketball team pulled out a wire-to-wire 82-76 victory over the Lewis Flyers tonight in a Great Lakes Valley Conference matchup at the Neil Carey Arena.

The Knights were led by junior Lauren Jones with 23 points and 13 rebounds, and freshman Therese Montano registered a new career high with 22 points while she also dished out six assists.  The Bellarmine duo helped overcome a big night by Lewis' Jenny Turpel, who put 33 points on the board.  A GLVC first-team all conference selection a year ago, Turpel set a new league record with 36 shot attempts in tonight's game.

Bellarmine (7-4, 2-1 GLVC) showed very little rust despite playing for the first time since Dec. 18.  The Knights struck first when Jones hit her first 3-point attempt and gradually built a 13-point lead over the first eight minutes.  Bellarmine extended that lead to 15 just before halftime and took a 39-24 cushion into the locker toom thanks in large part to 58.6 percent first half shooting and hauling in nine more rebounds than Lewis.  

The host Flyers (6-5, 2-1 GLVC) made a bit of a comeback in the second half, cutting the lead to just  four at the 9:32 mark.  Bellarmine, however, continued to rebound well and did a solid job from the free throw line, hitting 23 of 28 second half free throw attempts to hold Lewis at bay.

For the game, Bellarmine outrebounded their opponent 49-34 and held the Flyers to just 34.1 percent shooting. The defense and rebounding helped offset 29 turnovers by the Knights.

Bellarmine gets just one day to rest before taking on the Wisconsin-Parkside Rangers in Kenosha, Wisc., on Tuesday.

BOX SCORE