LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Hailey Diestelkamp is the reigning WBCA Player of the Year, and, judging by her performance Saturday, it's a title she has no intention of relinquishing.

Diestelkamp was the driving force in top-ranked Drury turning back a serious upset bid by the hot-shooting Bellarmine University women's basketball team, as the Panthers captured an 82-74 victory in Knights Hall in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

A player from each team put on a show offensively. Diestelkamp poured in 37 points on 14-of-21 shooting and had 11 rebounds for Drury (19-0, 10-0 GLVC). Junior guard Breia Torrens nearly matched her, piling up 29 points for Bellarmine (10-7, 5-5) after sinking 10-of-19 shots, including a whopping six 3-pointers.

For the second straight game, Bellarmine set a new season high in field-goal percentage, hitting at a 58.8 percent clip against Drury. And it was a highly consistent effort — the Knights shot 50 percent or higher in every quarter. Included in the shooting performance was a new season best in 3-point accuracy, as Bellarmine canned half of its 18 attempts from deep.

Bellarmine shot about 20 percent better than Drury (38.9), but the problem was the Panthers racked up 21 more attempts than the Knights, even with 22 free-throw chances. Drury created the discrepancy with 24 offensive rebounds — it had a decisive 44-27 overall advantage on the boards — and by forcing 25 turnovers.

Still, Bellarmine minimized the damage on turnovers until the fourth quarter. With 3:05 left, freshman guard Ashlee Harris followed a Torrens 3-pointer by scooping in a layup for a 69-67 lead.

Diestelkamp seemed to will Drury to the win in the fourth. She followed with a free throw, a go-ahead jumper and a 3-pointer to give Drury a 73-69 lead with 1:30 left. Her burst began a 10-0 run that provided the Panthers the cushion they needed to fend off the Knights, who didn't help matters with three turnovers in the final 1:17 and nine for the quarter. Diestelkamp hit 5-of-6 shots in scoring 15 points in the last period.

Bellarmine got off to a great start by hitting 10 of its 14 shots in the first period. Torrens, senior forward Mallory Schwartz and Harris combined for all 23 of the team's points as the Knights led by two. It was tied at 40 at halftime, and Bellarmine led 58-57 after three quarters.

Schwartz finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Paige Robinson followed Diestelkamp with 20 for Drury.

Bellarmine plays at 6:30 p.m. (ET) Thursday at Illinois Springfield.

For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow us on Twitter (@BUKnights), Instagram (BUKnights) and Facebook (BUKnights).

BOX SCORE (HTM)