LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University women's basketball team dominated the second quarter, but Western Kentucky came out on top in the other three to ultimately pull out a 64-55 win over the Knights on Thursday night in Freedom Hall.

The interior of Bellarmine (1-5) had its best collective game of the season. Senior forward Lauren Deel posted a season-high 16 points on 7-for-12 shooting and added six rebounds, while senior forward Sheniqua Coatney registered season highs in points (eight), rebounds (11), assists (three) and blocks (three). Coatney's assist total was a career high and her block tally matched a career best.

Senior guard Presley Brown notched 10 points against Western Kentucky (5-3), which won its fourth straight game as Alex Mead scored a game-high 18 points and Mya Meredith added 17. The pressing Lady Toppers forced 26 turnovers behind 16 steals and had a decisive 25-8 advantage in points off turnovers.

With 7:49 left in the fourth, Bellarmine led 51-49 on a basket by Brown, but Western Kentucky outscored the Knights 15-5 the rest of the way. One of the Knights' two baskets in that span came with 22 seconds left as Mead and Meredith provided the Lady Toppers with breathing room down the stretch.

"We had that game — and that's very disappointing," Knights Coach Chancellor Dugan said. "It's very encouraging in the sense that we're there and can play at that level, but we've got to be able to finish games."

Bellarmine also struggled at the outset of the contest, falling behind 19-7 after one quarter. However, the second period may have been the Knights' best stanza of the season.

Bellarmine outscored WKU 26-10 in the frame behind a dazzling 19-0 run. Brown and senior guard Kathleen Scott helped lead the charge with nice interior passing to Deel and Coatney that led to several layups. Brown closed the huge run with consecutive baskets, and Scott drained a pair of free throws as the Knights went 9-for-9 from the charity stripe in the period and carried a 33-29 lead into halftime.

"We've had spurts like that, we've just got to be consistent," Dugan said.

Bellarmine had a scoring drought of over four minutes to start the third quarter and WKU built a seven-point lead, but the Knights steadied themselves and trailed 48-45 on a basket by Coatney with two seconds left. However, WKU outscored the Knights 16-10 in the fourth.

"Our comeback in the first half to take the lead was great, but we did it because we were rebounding the basketball," Dugan said. "They turned their defense up at the half, and we had too many turnovers in the second half — too many unforced turnovers. They're an aggressive team and got a lot of run-outs and layups because of turnovers."

Bellarmine will host Evansville at 6:30 p.m. (ET) Tuesday.

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