LEBANON, Ill. — The No. 5 Bellarmine University women's basketball team tempered one of its worst offensive showings in the Chancellor Dugan era with one of its stingiest defensive performances in a 50-37 road victory Saturday over McKendree in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

Against the Bearcats (4-3, 0-2 GLVC), Bellarmine (8-0, 2-0) allowed its fewest points since limiting Berea to 33 in the 2012-13 season, which was Dugan's first. It's the Knights' lowest amount of points yielded against a conference opponent in that span. The last time Bellarmine scored 50 points or less in a game and won was in 1979 against William & Mary (50-48). The Knights threatened their tiniest point production under Dugan, which was 45 against Wisconsin-Parkside in her debut season at Bellarmine.

Senior forward Sarah Galvin paced Bellarmine with 13 points and nine rebounds, senior guard Whitney Hartlage scored 11 behind a trio of 3-pointers and junior forward Beth Bowers chipped in 10. Jordan Heberg had 12 for McKendree.

Bellarmine offset 31.6 percent shooting by forcing McKendree into 28 turnovers and holding the Bearcats to 33.3 percent from the floor. The Knights had advantages of 16-5 in points off turnovers and 13-0 in fast-break points.

Bellarmine led the entire second half but struggled to pull away due to poor shooting and its own turnovers (17 for the game). However, McKendree went roughly 11 minutes without a field goal bridging the second and third quarters.

With 4:15 left, Bellarmine led 41-37, but the Knights shut out the Bearcats the rest of the way. Galvin and freshman guard Katie Downey accounted for all the points in a 9-0 run to close the game.

Bellarmine next returns to nonconference play with a pair of contests in the Palm Beach Atlantic Holiday Hoops Classic on Dec. 18 and 19.

For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow us on Twitter (@BUKnights), Instagram (BUKnights), Facebook (BUKnights) and the BUKnights mobile app available for iPhone and Android.

BOX SCORE (HTM)