LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Junior guard Whitney Hartlage lobbed to freshman center Ally Mayhaus for an easy basket. She made a no-look pass to junior forward Sarah Galvin that led to two free throws. She then spotted senior guard Mackenzie Martinez for a fast-break bucket.

All of this precise passing happened in a span of a little over two minutes to start the second half, and it was exactly what was needed to jump-start the Bellarmine University women's basketball team's offense en route to a 68-47 victory Thursday over Missouri-St. Louis at Knights Hall in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

The scoring was so balanced for Bellarmine (17-3, 11-3 GLVC) that junior guards Destony Curry and Kelsey Adwell led the Knights with 11 points apiece. Sophomore forward Brooke Valentine perhaps boasted BU's most impressive individual statistic with 13 rebounds. She also registered three of the team's season-high seven blocks. Hartlage tallied five assists as her playmaking sparked Bellarmine in a third quarter in which the Knights outscored the Tritons (9-13, 4-10) 30-16.

Rebounding was pivotal for Bellarmine, which maintained its two-game lead over Saint Joseph's for second place in the GLVC East. Led by Valentine, the Knights won the battle of the boards, 42-26, leading to an 11-3 advantage in second-chance points.

Bellarmine also did a lot of damage from the free-throw line, hitting the bull's-eye on the vast majority of its chances. The Knights sank 19 of their 22 attempts for an 86.4 percent clip. On the other hand, Missouri-St. Louis was only 11 for 17 (64.7 percent).

Bellarmine got off to a slow start and trailed 6-0 after two minutes. A 10-1 run capped by a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Raven Merriweather gave the Knights the lead for good. They led 18-11 after the first quarter and 30-21 at halftime.

The flurry of good passes from Hartlage pushed Bellarmine's lead to 15 early in the third quarter, and Adwell knocked down a 3-pointer and combined with senior forward Nicole Bryant to nail four free throws as the Knights' lead swelled to 25. The dominant third quarter allowed BU to coast to victory in the fourth.

Jordan Fletcher and Amber Daly scored 12 points apiece for Missouri-St. Louis, which shot 32.1 percent to the 47.8 output produced by Bellarmine. The Knights struggled taking care of the ball with 28 turnovers, but so did the Tritons, who committed 23.

Bellarmine will host Maryville in its regular-season home finale at 1 p.m. (ET) on Saturday.

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