CLEVELAND, Ohio — Georgia State used a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter to separate itself from the Bellarmine University women's basketball team Saturday in a 66-52 win over the Knights in the Hampton Inn Cleveland Downtown Viking Invitational.

The matchup was much closer than the final score indicated in Bellarmine's final contest of the three-game event hosted by Cleveland State. It was tight throughout and when junior guard Mackenzie Keelin stroked her third 3-pointer of the game, Bellarmine (1-5) was within 50-49 of Georgia State (4-4) with 6:28 left in the fourth.

However, the back-and-forth affair tilted in Georgia State's favor for good when the Panthers scored 10 unanswered points to lead by 11 with less than three minutes remaining. Bellarmine suffered a scoring drought of nearly four minutes as Georgia State took control.

Deasia Merrill hit 9-of-11 shots in scoring a game-high 21 points for Georgia State. Bellarmine outrebounded GSU 41-36, 16 of which were offensive boards, but the Panthers shot at a better clip, finishing at 42.9 percent from the floor while holding the Knights to 30 percent and hitting 19-of-25 free throws to BU's 12-of-20 from the charity stripe.

"We had a hard time finding the bucket today," Knights Coach Chancellor Dugan said. "Overall, I thought we had good looks; we've just got to make shots. I thought we had some good looks early that didn't go down, and it shook our confidence a little bit."

Freshman center Gracie Merkle posted her second straight double-double, and third of the season, after recording 18 points, 11 rebounds and a Division I-era program-record five blocks for Bellarmine. Merkle went 7-for-10 from the floor. Senior forward Cam Browning hauled in a career-high 11 rebounds and distributed a career-best five assists.

Bellarmine led 12-10 after one quarter, Georgia State held a 27-23 halftime advantage and the Panthers carried a 43-39 edge following three periods. GSU outscored Bellarmine 23-13 in the fourth.

"We just have to finish out quarters," Dugan said. "We have to clean up those things."

Bellarmine went 1-2 in the Viking Invitational. In addition to the Georgia State game, the Knights defeated St. Bonaventure 72-65 before falling 76-59 to host Cleveland State. Both losses were similar in that one lopsided quarter bit the Knights.

"I'm not happy with it, but I really thought we competed," Dugan said. "If we take care of the basketball here, take care of the basketball there, make a shot here, make a shot there, it's a different game in the two games we lost. It was a good experience for us."

Bellarmine will make its long-awaited home debut by hosting Simmons College of Kentucky at 6:30 p.m. (ET) Thursday in Freedom Hall.

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