Box Score LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Despite a second-half comeback, the Bellarmine University women's basketball team fell, 75-82, to the hot-shooting, tenth-ranked Drury Lady Panthers in the Knights' conference home-opener at Knights Hall on Thursday evening. Sophomore guard Mackenzie Martinez led the way with 13 points for Bellarmine.

"I was pleased with how they responded in the second half," said head coach Chancellor Dugan. "But we let them have too much of a lead in the first half. We just have to make some shots."

Bellarmine (5-6, 1-2) opened up the contest strong. The Knights were dominant on the glass and denied Drury's offensive production. Bellarmine forced four turnovers, limited the Lady Panthers to 5-for-13 shooting early in the ballgame, and grabbed five offensive rebounds.

With their strong early performance, Bellarmine spent the first 10 minutes of the game alternating the lead with the tenth-ranked Landy Panthers, as there were six ties and five lead changes. Both sophomore forward Sarah Galvin and Martinez put up six points in the first half and sophomore guard Mariah Gador had four points and four offensive boards.

"It's tough to know you can play this type of game with the tenth-ranked team in the country, but it's still a loss,"  said Dugan.

However, for the rest of the half, Drury hammered their way through a long 24-10 run and finished the period shooting nearly 60 percent from the field as they increased their lead over the Knights.

In the final seconds of the period, Martinez sprinted down the court and nailed a three at the buzzer, cutting the deficit to 15, 24-39 as the teams headed to the break. The Knights finished the half shooting 10-for-33 (30.3 percent) from the floor and knocked down three of their four free throws.

Bellarmine's full-court pressure defense and strong shooting kept the Knights in the game as the second half progressed. Bellarmine slowly cut into the Panthers' lead as the Knights fought back and ramped up their intensity on both ends of the court. Bellarmine sliced the visitors' lead to 11, 51-62, with 10:40 left on the clock after Galvin scored on a layup, stole the ball on Drury's inbound play, and scored her second basket in seven seconds. A minute later, at the 9:25 mark, a three-pointer by Therese Montano cut the Drury lead to 10, 64-54, but the Panthers did not surrender and pushed the lead back up to 15.

With 4:42 to play and the score 71-56 in favor of Drury, Gador grabbed her fifth offensive rebound of the game and put it back up and in to cut the lead to 13, 71-58. Bellarmine subsequently shot into a 16-5 run over the next four minutes, forcing three turnovers and grabbing as many offensive rebounds. Drury hit a three-minute field goal drought as six consecutive possessions for the Panthers yielded no points.

"I was pleased with how our defense stepped up in the second half, but we have to go all out all the time. We can't pick and choose when we go all out," said Dugan.

The Knights knocked the deficit to four, 72-76, with just 44 seconds remaining on a basket and foul by senior forward Kelsey Lamb. Her bucket pulled Bellarmine to the closest they had been to the visitors since 8:21 left in the first period, and the largest crowd that has seen the Knights play this season roared.

After a missed free throw, the Knights were unable to complete the comeback and the Lady Panthers pulled away in the final seconds, winning 82-75.

Bellarmine shot 19-for-42 (45.2 percent) from the field in the second half and 10-for-12 (83.3 percent) from the line on their way to 51 second period points.

"They punched us, and we got up," said Dugan. "But it's still a loss."

For the game, Bellarmine finished 29-for-75 (38.7 percent) from the field and 4-for-20 (20 percent) from the three. The Knights hit 13 of their 16 free throw attempts (81.3 percent) in the loss. Three others players contributed double-digit scoring performances for the Knights. Junior forward Morgan Clemons scored 12 with six rebounds, Galvin scored 10 on 5-for-8 shooting, and Lamb also scored 10.