LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Career Win No. 450 for
Chancellor Dugan looked a lot like many of the victories that came before it for the Bellarmine University women's basketball coach.
On Wednesday night in Knights Hall, Bellarmine harassed and hounded Embry-Riddle on defense, while four players scored in double figures as the Knights rolled to an 80-60 victory in their final game before the holiday break.
Dugan reached her 450th career head-coaching victory after tallying her 130th win in eight seasons at Bellarmine. Before arriving to guide the Knights, Dugan was the head coach at Florida Atlantic for 13 seasons. Prior to that, she coached at Southern Indiana for eight years, leading the Screaming Eagles to the DII national title game in 1997.
"It means I've had a lot of really great assistant coaches and really great players," Dugan said of the milestone. "You're a much better coach when you have the players."
Employing an active press and halfcourt defense has been a staple of Dugan, and that was one of the keys to Bellarmine's success against Embry-Riddle (5-5), a squad from Daytona Beach, Florida. The Knights (5-3) forced the Eagles into 24 turnovers and committed only 10, translating that differential into a dominant 32-8 superiority in points off turnovers.
"I thought our pressure was the key tonight," Dugan said. "I thought we made them rush and shoot quicker shots than they wanted to. We got a lot of hands in the lane, a lot of deflections. Anytime we're doing that, we're going to have a lot of success."
Bellarmine has now posted its best two shooting performances against teams from the Sunshine State Conference. The Knights shot an even 50 percent in a 76-63 home victory over Tampa on Nov. 30 and finished a hair shy of that against Embry-Riddle, hitting at a 49.3-percent clip. Bellarmine was particularly accurate in the first half, sinking 54.3 percent of its attempts.
Sophomore forward
Alisha Owens recorded her first career 20-point game at Bellarmine, tallying 20 points on 10-of-12 shooting. Senior guard
Mikayla Berry notched 13 points and seven rebounds, junior guard
Breia Torrens buried four of her five 3-point tries in scoring 12 points with four steals and junior forward
Lauren Deel chipped in 10 points and three steals.
In addition to the turnovers, Bellarmine commanded the paint, outscoring Embry-Riddle 52-20 in that area. The Knights built a 43-31 lead at halftime after asserting themselves down low and pouring in 28 points in the paint. Owens established herself off the bench, hitting 6-of-7 shots with 12 points before the intermission.
"She's feeling really comfortable with what she's doing, and the girls are finding her," Dugan said of Owens, who transferred to Bellarmine from Georgia Southern.
Owens scored six straight points and Deel added a bucket as an 8-0 Bellarmine run boosted the Knights' lead to 20 midway through the third quarter. The closest Embry-Riddle got was within 10 with 7:54 left in the final period, but Torrens canned back-to-back 3-pointers and the Knights were cruising again.
Nikki Tucker and Keturah Balabyekkubo scored 12 points apiece for Embry-Riddle. The Eagles attempted 25 less shots than Bellarmine, but they made up for some of the difference by hitting 19-of-24 free throws as the Knights had just three chances at the charity stripe.
Bellarmine will host Illinois Springfield on Jan. 2 as GLVC-exclusive play kicks in.
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