LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University women's basketball team got contributions from a bounty of sources in capturing a 75-54 victory over Illinois Springfield on Thursday in Knights Hall in Great Lakes Valley Conference action.

Senior center Liza Tibbs sank 7-of-9 shots in posting a game-high 16 points for Bellarmine (12-9, 6-7 GLVC), which has won four of five. Tibbs was the only Knight who scored in double figures against UIS (7-15, 4-10), but several others were close. Junior guard Katie Downey had nine points while sophomore forward Lauren Deel, junior center Ally Mayhaus and sophomore guard Breia Torrens chipped in eight apiece.

Bellarmine shot a season-high 50 percent from the floor behind a sizzling 63.3 percent effort in the second half. The Knights had a muscular 54-16 advantage in points in the paint. Led by Deel and Mayhaus' eight rebounds apiece, Bellarmine had a 36-26 edge on the boards, including 15-7 of the offensive variety.

Bellarmine started slow as Illinois Springfield took a 12-10 lead after one quarter, but the Knights took the lead for good at 16-15 on a Tibbs basket with 7:56 left in the second period. Tibbs canned all five of her shots in scoring 11 points in the frame. Bellarmine took a 32-26 lead into halftime after Mayhaus followed a 3-pointer by freshman guard Bailee Harney with a putback.

"I thought our defense sparked us in the second quarter, but we also got some easy looks on offense," Knights Coach Chancellor Dugan said. "Our high-low looked good. We kept going inside, and our shots are going to fall when we go inside-out."

Bellarmine opened the third quarter with a 17-4 run. The Knights took a 52-37 lead into the fourth after freshman guard Presley Brown converted a drive, but the Prairie Stars got within nine with 8:11 left on a Carson Vance 3-pointer.

Bellarmine responded with its second huge run of the half, this time a 17-0 spurt that put the game away. Freshman center Jalaya Dowell began the game-clinching burst with a jumper and freshman center Danielle Feldkamp capped it with a layup. In between, Downey and junior forward Mallory Schwartz combined for nine points.

Bellarmine forced Illinois Springfield into 20 turnovers while committing 12. The Knights had 10 steals and five blocks, with the thefts and swats spread around like the scoring.

"I thought our press put pressure on them," Dugan said. "I didn't think in the second half (UIS) had the freshness that they had in the first half to play defense on us, and I thought we got some easy looks because of it."

Bellarmine hosts McKendree at 1 p.m. (ET) Saturday.

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