LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Former Bellarmine University women's basketball star Raven Merriweather will return to the Knights as an assistant coach, Head Coach Chancellor Dugan announced Thursday.

A Louisville native, Merriweather played for Bellarmine from 2014-18 and is the ninth-leading scorer in program history after amassing 1,420 points. The former guard earned three All-GLVC accolades when Bellarmine was a Division II program, but she will be coaching at the D1 level as the Knights transitioned up last season while joining the ASUN Conference.

"We are so excited to welcome Raven back home," Dugan said. "She will bring a special perspective and energy to our program. Raven wanted to be back at Bellarmine to help build our program to championship level in the D1 era."

Merriweather remained actively involved in basketball following her graduation from Bellarmine. She coached the junior varsity team at Sacred Heart Academy, her alma mater, for a year and followed by becoming a graduate assistant at Eastern Kentucky University for a year while earning a master's degree in sports administration.

In a sense, Merriweather has come full circle at Bellarmine in a short time. Dugan and assistants Shannon Litton and Crystal Kelly recruited her in high school when she was at Sacred Heart, and now Merriweather has joined them on staff.

"I am super excited to come back to Bellarmine and represent the university in another uniform," Merriweather said. "The same group of coaches I will be working with are the same group of coaches that believed in me when I was 17. I am eager and ready to contribute to making Bellarmine a top contender in the ASUN!"

Merriweather helped make Bellarmine a top contender in the GLVC during her playing days. She was a key figure on Knights teams that earned consecutive NCAA II Tournament berths in 2016 and 2017. In the former season, Bellarmine captured the GLVC Tournament title, and Merriweather was selected to the All-Tournament Team for her exceptional performance during the championship run.

As a senior in 2017-18, Merriweather averaged 17.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists while her 499 total points rank eighth all-time for a single season in program history. She was the recipient of first-team All-GLVC recognition that campaign, garnered second-team notice as a sophomore and junior and was the GLVC co-Freshman of the Year in her debut season.

In addition to 1,420 points, Merriweather averaged 12.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists for her career while her 203 steals and 84.4 free-throw percentage both rank fourth all-time and her 145 3-pointers made rank ninth. She was honored on the program's All-Decade Team.

"I had a blast playing here," said Merriweather, who has a five-month-old daughter, Rhyan. "And I love that I get to come back to the place where I had some of the best times."

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