BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — The Bellarmine University women's basketball team proved it could hang with a Division I championship level club in the first half Friday night, but then Western Kentucky's Chasity Gooch did her best Crystal Kelly impersonation.

After the Knights went toe-to-toe with the Hilltoppers before halftime behind hot shooting from junior guard Mariah Gador, Gooch asserted herself in the outset of the second half and led a 24-2 run that helped propel WKU to a 102-55 victory over BU in an exhibition game at E.A. Diddle Arena.

Gador registered a game-high 21 points behind 6 of 12 shooting and had three steals for the Knights. She nailed a trio of 3-pointers and all six of her free throws. Sophomore guard Whitney Hartlage added 10 points, and sophomore guard Destony Curry chipped in eight with four assists. Senior forward Morgan Clemons led BU with seven rebounds.

Gooch, the Conference USA Preseason Player of the Year, scored 20 points for Western Kentucky, including nine in just six minutes to start the second half. The All-American candidate dominated the post like former All-American Kelly, who is now an assistant coach at Bellarmine and is WKU's all-time leading scorer and rebounder. Kelly had her number retired by WKU. Gooch led five WKU players who scored in double figures.

It appeared as if Western Kentucky might run away with things early as the Hilltoppers built a 16-4 lead roughly six minutes into the game. Bellarmine, which missed three easy layups during that stretch, settled in and pushed back behind Gador. She made a fast-break layup, sank two free throws after an offensive rebound and drained a 3-pointer from the right wing off a pass from junior guard Mackenzie Martinez in transition.

On the strength of Gador's eruption, Bellarmine stormed back within 24-20 behind a 16-8 run. Gador would lead all scorers in the first half with 14 points on 4 of 6 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers.

The Knights weren't finished. Hartlage, a transfer making her Bellarmine debut, swished a 3-pointer from the right wing following her transition layup to cut Western Kentucky's lead to 31-28 with 4:44 left in the half.

The Hilltoppers gave themselves some breathing room late and took a 44-37 lead into the break behind a combined 23 points from Gooch and Alexis Govan, a Conference USA Preseason All-Conference selection. Unfortunately for Bellarmine, that duo was just getting started, as they led a 24-2 run to start the second half and WKU never looked back.

The Hilltoppers outscored the Knights 58-18 after the intermission. Bellarmine was hurt by 29 turnovers, including 16 in the second half. WKU also hit 64.9 percent of its shots over the final 20 minutes while limiting BU to 25 percent in that timeframe.

Micah Jones and Kendall Noble had 17 points apiece for Western Kentucky while Govan added 12 and Tashia Brown recorded 11.

Bellarmine opens the regular season by hosting North Alabama at 7 p.m. (ET) on Nov. 15.

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