LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The No. 4 Bellarmine University women's basketball team made a furious second-half rally in positioning itself to knock off top-ranked Ashland but errant free-throw shooting ultimately derailed the Knights' comeback bid in an 88-83 loss to the Eagles on Friday afternoon at Knights Hall.

In a top 5 showdown between a pair of unbeaten squads, Bellarmine (10-1) surged back after trailing Ashland (14-0) 14-0 at the outset and by as many as 19 early in the third quarter. However, that third period turned into a stanza where the Knights made up ground, and they cut it to a one-possession game with less than two minutes remaining in regulation before the Eagles turned them back.

"(Ashland) did a great job, and they're No. 1 in the nation for a reason," Bellarmine Coach Chancellor Dugan said. "I want to see them again."

Junior guard Raven Merriweather racked up 19 points and four steals to lead Bellarmine, which is the only team thus far to fall to Ashland in single digits — the Eagles' smallest margin of victory had been 14 points and they entered beating opponents by an average of nearly 40 per game. Senior forward Sarah Galvin added 16 points and eight rebounds, senior guard Destony Curry chipped in 12, junior forward Beth Bowers contributed 11 and freshman forward Taylor Hunter had 10 and seven rebounds.

Andi Daugherty poured in 28 points on 12-of-17 shooting for Ashland and seemingly generated a basket every time Bellarmine threatened to push ahead. Laina Snyder, also clutch in the fourth quarter, added 17 points and Jodi Johnson had 10 for the Eagles, who entered as the second-highest scoring team in Division II. Ashland shot 52.3 percent overall, while Bellarmine was also solid at 47.6 percent. Points in the paint were close as well — the Eagles had a 52-46 edge.

Where Bellarmine struggled mightily was from the perimeter, as the Knights made only 1-of-16 attempts (6.3 percent) from 3-point land, while Ashland sank five of its 10 attempts from deep. However, Bellarmine was probably more disappointed in its free-throw shooting, hitting only 22 of 32 (68.8 percent) from the charity stripe.

"We missed free throws and layups. We harp on that all the time," Dugan said. "And then we couldn't buy a 3."

Several of those misses from the line came at the most inopportune times, as Bellarmine was 6 of 12 in the fourth quarter. The Knights were down 71-61 after three quarters and rallied to within four with 6:47 left. They missed a pair of free throws directly thereafter.

Bellarmine sliced the lead to three on three occasions inside four minutes, the last on Bowers' jumper with 1:42 left. Down 85-81 lead, the Knights had an opportunity to pull within two with 39 seconds remaining, but they missed two more free throws. A block by Hunter kept Bellarmine alive, but the Knights turned the ball over on the ensuing possession as Ashland was able to squeak out the victory behind a combined 17 fourth-quarter points from Snyder and Daugherty.

Ashland played a largely dominant first half. The Eagles raced out to a 14-0 lead and owned a 56-39 advantage at halftime behind sizzling 61.1 percent shooting from the floor, 66.7 percent (4 of 6) from 3-point land and 88.9 percent (8 of 9) from the free-throw line.

Although it fell behind by a steep deficit, Bellarmine actually shot a healthy 64.3 percent in the second quarter. The Knights started turning the tables in the third quarter by holding the Eagles to 5-for-15 shooting. Galvin capped an 8-1 run over the first four minutes with a bucket, and Hunter's putback got Bellarmine within single digits before the Knights' deficit was 10 heading into the fourth period.

"We just started rebounding. We told them all week that was going to be the key," said Dugan, whose squad was outrebounded 18-11 in the first half but muscled up after the intermission to own a 38-31 advantage for the game. "They were killing us on the boards, and that's why they're 14-0. When you play a team that physical, you have to be that physical. Once we got our nerves out of our system, we came back."

Galvin spotted Bowers for a layup with 8:26 left, and Bellarmine didn't face a double-digit deficit again. Merriweather's layup had the Knights within four at the 6:47 mark, and the game was hotly contested until the final buzzer.

"We can improve," Dugan said. "It's still December."

Bellarmine returns to Great Lakes Valley Conference action when it hosts Rockhurst on Thursday.

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