LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University women's basketball team will host its first-ever ASUN Conference games when the Knights welcome perennial power Florida Gulf Coast to Freedom Hall on Saturday and Sunday.

Bellarmine (0-7, 0-2 ASUN) and Florida Gulf Coast (7-2, 0-0) will meet at 2 p.m. (ET) each day.

After transitioning to Division I this season, Bellarmine made its ASUN debut last Saturday at Lipscomb and met the Bisons again Sunday. While the Knights were swept 84-72 and 65-58, the losses unfolded in different fashion. In the first game, Lipscomb led by as many as 27 points in the third quarter before Bellarmine rallied to cut its deficit to 10 with 7:33 left in the fourth before the comeback stalled.

In the second game, Lipscomb grabbed a 21-10 first-quarter lead, but the contest was tight over the final three periods. With 4:22 left in the fourth, Bellarmine trailed 57-55, but the Knights scored just three points the rest of the way, providing the Bisons the opportunity to pull away.

In the first outing against Lipscomb, senior guard Tasia Jeffries racked up a career-high 25 points. Junior guard Presley Brown added a career-best 13 points. Senior forward Lauren Deel led Bellarmine in the second game against the Bisons with 15 points, and senior guard Breia Torrens scored in double figures in both contests, averaging 12.5 points. Jeffries (15.3), Torrens (12.6) and Deel (10.0) top the Knights in scoring.

Florida Gulf Coast's first two weekends in ASUN play were postponed due to pandemic-related issues. The Eagles have not played since an 80-66 win at Florida International on Dec. 21. They'll enter Freedom Hall on a six-game winning streak.

Sophomore Kierstan Bell was selected as one of 15 players nationally to land a spot on the midseason watch list for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year award, presented by Her Hoop Stats. The 6-foot-1 guard has already been named ASUN Player and Newcomer of the Week on two occasions this season and has posted five double-doubles in her six games while averaging 23.0 points and 11.8 rebounds per game.

Tishara Morehouse (17.4), Tyra Cox (12.0) and Aaliyah Stanley (10.1) are also scoring in double figures for Florida Gulf Coast, which averages 78.2 points per game. A program renowned for its three-point shooting, FGCU hoists over 36 attempts per game from beyond the arc and averages 11.4 makes per contest while shooting at a 31.3 percent clip from downtown. Bell has drained a team-high 18 3-pointers and is among five players who have hit at least 13 treys this season.

Under Coach Karl Smesko, Florida Gulf Coast has been the top team in the ASUN over the last dozen years. The Eagles captured 10 of the last 12 regular-season titles and seven ASUN Tournament championships since 2012. FGCU's Division-I era began in 2007 — like Bellarmine, it was a DII school — and the Eagles have made 13 consecutive appearances either in the NCAA Tournament or the WNIT.

Smesko has a past connection to the Great Lakes Valley Conference, Bellarmine's former league in DII. He was the head coach for two seasons (1999-2001) at Purdue University Fort Wayne when the program was a member of the GLVC. Smesko's first head-coaching job was in 1997-98 at Walsh, which at the time was an NAIA school but would transition to DII and join Bellarmine in the Midwest Region.

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