EVANSVILLE, Ind. — The jump shot of Mackenzie Martinez might not have been falling, but the touch on her free throw shooting couldn't have been more precise.

Martinez drained all eight of her attempts from the charity stripe, including four straight down the stretch following senior forward Morgan Clemons' go-ahead basket as the Bellarmine University women's basketball team squeaked out a pivotal 63-58 victory Saturday over Newberry in the USI Thanksgiving Classic at the Physical Activities Center.

Sophomore guard Destony Curry and freshman forward Beth Bowers tied for game-high honors with 15 points apiece for the Knights (3-1), who dealt the Wolves (5-1) their first loss of the season. Samantha Creed scored 15 points and Haylee Lepaio had 12 and 11 rebounds for Newberry, which was tied for 11th in the latest D2SIDA National Poll rankings.

It took a resilient effort by Bellarmine to capture the win. With 6:50 left in regulation, the Knights trailed 55-49 after a 10-1 run by Newberry. Martinez stroked a pair of free throws to halt the Wolves' surge and then spotted sophomore guard Whitney Hartlage for a 3-pointer.

Bellarmine remained in striking range but still trailed 58-55 with 3:30 remaining. A pair of free throws by Curry got the Knights within one with 2:19 left. Then, with less than one minute remaining, BU posted three offensive rebounds in a 17-second span. On the last one, Clemons rebounded her own missed free throw and her putback gave Bellarmine a 59-58 lead with 36 seconds left.

Newberry's Emily Perry missed a go-ahead attempt, and Bowers corralled the rebound. Martinez sank a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left for a 61-58 advantage. After a timeout, Perry's 3-pointer to tie didn't fall and Hartlage grabbed the rebound.

With two seconds left, Martinez went to the charity stripe with a chance to ice the game. The junior guard canned her first shot to clinch the victory and added the second for good measure. While Martinez missed her five attempts from the floor, she buried all eight of tries from the free throw line. She finished with eight points, four assists, four rebounds and two steals.

Led by Bowers, Bellarmine received a huge lift from its subs. The Knights' bench outscored the Wolves' 29-10, including 18-2 in the first half. Bowers has now led or tied for the team-high in scoring in three of the team's four games. Hartlage hit all three of her shots, including both her 3-point tries, in scoring eight points off the bench and sophomore guard Kelsey Adwell chipped in six while also being a reinforcement.

Bellarmine sank six of its 13 attempts (46.2 percent) from long range and 19 of its 25 chances (76 percent) from the free throw line. Meanwhile, Newberry only made three of its 14 tries (21.4 percent) from 3-point land and shot just 25 percent (7 of 28) in the second half.

Bellarmine finishes the USI Thanksgiving Classic with a 1 p.m. (ET) matchup on Sunday with Harris Stowe State.

BOX SCORE (HTM)