LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University women's basketball team will make its long-awaited home debut when the Knights welcome fellow Louisville program Simmons College of Kentucky for a 6:30 p.m. (ET) contest Thursday in Freedom Hall.
Bellarmine (1-5) began the season with six straight games away from Freedom Hall — four true road outings and two neutral-site matchups — but the Knights will get reacquainted with their home facility in a big way in December, a month in which they host six contests.
Simmons (5-6) represents the first of those six. Simmons is a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association. Bellarmine is facing a NCCAA program for the second straight season after the Knights hosted Campbellsville-Harrodsburg last year and earned an 82-63 victory.
Simmons is coming off a 72-51 loss Saturday to Harris-Stowe. The Lady Falcons had three players score in double figures in the contest, paced by 15 points from Andrea Seay. Jayla Johnson added 13 points and Zephaniah Gray chipped in 11. Gray also had team highs of seven rebounds and five steals.
Gray is leading Simmons this season in several statistical categories, including scoring (14.3), assists (2.8), steals (28) and 3-pointers made (20). Seay is averaging 13.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. Simmons is averaging 67.8 points per game as a team while shooting 40.7 percent from the floor.
Bellarmine returns to action after competing in three games in four days in the Viking Invitational hosted by Cleveland State. The Knights opened the event with a 72-65 win over St. Bonaventure before falling 76-59 to Cleveland State and 66-52 to Georgia State.
On Monday,
Gracie Merkle earned her second ASUN Freshman of the Week accolade of the season. In the three games in the Viking Invitational, the freshman center posted two double-doubles while averaging 13.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game. She shot 66.7 percent from the field.
In the opening game of the Viking Invitational against St. Bonaventure, sophomore guard
Hayley Harrison (21 points) and senior forward
Cam Browning (20 points) both set new career highs for scoring. Browning added a career-best 11 rebounds in the finale against Georgia State.
Bellarmine has either outrebounded or been even on the boards with four of its first six opponents. That figure is already over half the amount of times that occurred last season (seven).
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