KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chancellor Dugan had a lot on her mind and didn't mince words in the locker room as the Bellarmine University women's basketball team found itself trailing Rockhurst 41-25 at the intermission after a dreadful first half Saturday at the Mason-Halpin Field House.

"Our halftime talk was intense, to say the least," the Knights head coach said.

But just a few minutes earlier, before she entered into that animated discussion in the locker room, Dugan said she overheard the Knights discussing virtually every topic that she was about to broach. Despite a large deficit, the team's actions right then offered some assurance.

"That's a mature team," Dugan came away thinking.

And she was right, as Bellarmine remained composed and stormed back with an utterly dominant third quarter en route to an epic 85-77 comeback victory over the Hawks in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

Junior forward Sarah Galvin had another huge outing with game bests of 22 points and a career-high 18 rebounds for Bellarmine (10-0, 4-0 GLVC), while junior guard Whitney Hartlage drilled five 3-pointers in scoring 15 points. They were two of five Knights who scored in double figures against Rockhurst (7-4, 1-3), as senior guard Mackenzie Martinez, junior guard Destony Curry and sophomore forward Beth Bowers added 10 apiece.

Ranked No. 22 in the Division II Media Poll, Bellarmine trailed 27-15 after the first quarter, 39-17 with 3:15 left in the second quarter and 41-25 at halftime.

It was an entirely different story in the second half, and particularly in the third quarter. The Knights, who started playing effective defense late in the first half after Dugan employed a zone, limited the Hawks to 12 points in the third period and exploded for 35.

Hartlage heated up in the frame, sinking a pair of 3-pointers as Bellarmine cut its deficit to 10 after four minutes. Bowers and Galvin then sandwiched baskets around another Hartlage 3-pointer as the Knights surged to within three.

Bellarmine also was exceptional from the free throw line in the third quarter and got there plenty of times. The Knights snared their first lead since midway through the first period when junior guard Kelsey Adwell knocked down BU's 10th straight from the charity stripe and Galvin made it 12 in a row before Bellarmine entered the fourth with a 60-53 advantage.

The fourth quarter was a microcosm of the first three periods as there were pronounced swings in play. A putback by sophomore forward Brooke Valentine built Bellarmine's lead to 10, but in the blink of an eye the Hawks were back within two with 6:09 left.

The Knights absorbed that blow and responded with their own. Two baskets apiece by Bowers and sophomore guard Raven Merriweather and another by Curry pushed the lead back to 11 with 1:26 remaining. Rockhurst cut it to six with 38 seconds left, but that final BU run proved to be the game-clincher.

Rockhurst had four players score in double figures. Lauren Meyers was 5 of 6 from 3-point land in scoring 21 points, Mary Dineen added 18, Morgan Harwood chipped in 12 and Brittany Meyer had 10.

Despite the hot hand by Meyers, the Hawks, who lead the GLVC in 3-pointers made per game at nearly nine, struggled mightily from behind the arc, hitting only 6-of-25 attempts (24 percent). Rockhurst shot roughly 70 percent overall in the first quarter but, by the end, was held to 42.2 percent by Bellarmine.

Meanwhile, Bellarmine continuously found the bottom of the net in the second half. The Knights hit 54.5 percent of their shots after halftime, including 55.6 percent (5 of 9) from 3-point range. BU also canned 19-of-24 opportunities from the charity stripe after the intermission while Rockhurst hit two in only four attempts, a distinct contrast from the first half when the Hawks made 15 of 22 while the Knights hit 8 of 10.

Perhaps even more important for Bellarmine than the improved shooting was the Knights' complete turnaround on the boards. BU was outrebounded 22-14 in the first half, but the Knights had a 27-12 advantage in the second half to ultimately win the battle of the boards.

Praising a total team effort after the comeback victory, Dugan said, "I'm feeling better and better about who we can put in and what they can bring."

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