LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University women's basketball team nearly pulled off an epic comeback against No. 15 Lewis before falling 78-77 Saturday in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

After trailing by as many as 20 points in the second half, Bellarmine charged back and had a chance at the victory after sophomore guard Breia Torrens buried a 3-pointer to get within one with 15 seconds left and junior guard Katie Downey followed with a steal on the inbound.

The Knights swung the ball to freshman guard Presley Brown in the left corner for an open 3-point attempt, but her shot bounced off the rim as time expired.

"We were down 18 at the half and could have given up," Knights Coach Chancellor Dugan said. "We just hung in and we played our butts off."

Junior guard Mikayla Berry knocked down four 3-pointers in scoring a team-high 22 points for Bellarmine (14-10, 8-8 GLVC), which saw its four-game winning streak snapped. Lewis (24-2, 15-1) won its 11th straight contest behind a game-high 31 points from senior All-American Jessica Kelliher.

"You have to give credit to Lewis. They're a very, very good team," Dugan said. "Jessica Kelliher, if she's not the Player of the Year, I haven't seen a Player of the Year. And I've coached a Player of the Year. I know what it looks like, and it looks like her. She's just incredible."

It appeared as if Lewis might run away with the game after leading 28-9 after the first quarter and 48-30 at halftime. By that point, Kelliher had already piled up 24 points on 10-for-11 shooting and the Flyers were shooting 63 percent while holding a 24-9 rebounding edge.

One encouraging sign, though, was that Bellarmine forced Lewis into 16 turnovers in the first half. The Knights maintained that pressure in the second half, and the Flyers turned the ball over 13 more times.

Bellarmine trailed 50-30 inside the first minute of the second half, but Berry and sophomore forward Lauren Deel combined for 14 points in the third as the Knights rallied to slice their deficit to 62-54 heading into the fourth. Berry then followed a 3-pointer with a successful drive as Bellarmine opened the fourth on a 6-0 run to get within two.

Bellarmine never could wrangle the lead from Lewis, but the Knights refused to let the Flyers pull away. With Bellarmine trailing 77-71 with 43 seconds left, junior forward Mallory Schwartz converted an old-fashioned three-point play. The Knights fouled with 20 seconds left, and Kelliher sank the first free throw for a 78-74 lead before committing a lane violation on the second. Bellarmine held Kelliher to one made field goal in the second half.

Torrens followed by drilling the trifecta that cut it to one before Downey picked off a long inbound pass to set up the potential game-winning shot.

"I thought our kids just battled and battled," Dugan said. "They made some tough shots, they got some tough rebounds. We stopped them in the second half, we turned them over. We've just got to get a little more experience behind us, but we were able to make a comeback and gutted it out."

Brown finished with 10 points and Deel and Schwartz added nine apiece. That trio combined for 10 of Bellarmine's 17 steals. The 30 turnovers the Knights forced were one short of the season best they amassed in Thursday's win over Indianapolis.

Bellarmine attempted 23 more shots than Lewis but, on the flip side, the Flyers were 24 of 32 from the free-throw line while the Knights had just 14 attempts from the charity stripe.

Prior to the game, the Knights honored seniors Liza Tibbs and Stephanie Still.

Bellarmine concludes the regular season with road games Thursday at McKendree and Saturday at Illinois Springfield. The Knights defeated the Bearcats 60-53 and the Prairie Stars 75-54 at home in the middle of this month.

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