LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University women's basketball team played in its final nonconference game before ASUN action begins against No. 2 Louisville in the KFC Yum! Center, falling 97-46 to the undefeated Cardinals on Saturday afternoon.

Senior forward Lauren Deel led Bellarmine (0-5) with eight points, and senior guard Tasia Jeffries collected a game-high five assists. Olivia Cochran went 7 for 7 from the field in scoring a game-high 15 points for Louisville (7-0), which had six players score in double figures.

"Our kids are seeing where they are right now, and I really thought we did some good stuff in the second half," Knights Coach Chancellor Dugan said. "I thought they listened and were very coachable. When we told them what we needed to do to counteract something, they did it, so they were very coachable in how they responded to us. If they can make those in-game adjustments, they're going to be fine."

Bellarmine started off well as Jeffries knocked down a 3-pointer and spotted Deel for a lay-in for a quick 5-2 lead. The Knight were within seven with less than three minutes left in the first quarter after Jeffries converted an old-fashioned three-point play, but Louisville finished the period on a 7-0 run to take a 26-12 lead and never looked back as the Cardinals shot 60.9 percent for the game.

Despite playing the No. 2 team in the nation, and facing a Louisville squad with daunting length and athleticism, Bellarmine played with poise in committing a respectable 14 turnovers.

"I thought we did a good job passing the ball and had a lot of good backdoor passes," Dugan said. "I thought we had good shots; they just didn't go in. We had a lot of shots, especially in the second half, that rimmed out."

Bellarmine will make its ASUN debut next weekend as the Knights will play Saturday and Sunday at Lipscomb.

"Tomorrow we're going to simulate a game and have an intrasquad," Dugan said. "We've got to get used to playing back to back, so we're going to go hard and get a lot of good work in."

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