LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University women's basketball team will open ASUN play with a 1 p.m. (ET) contest Monday at Jacksonville.

Bellarmine (4-9) and Jacksonville (6-4) are meeting for the fourth time overall and third in Swisher Gymnasium, where the teams split a pair of contests in 2020-21. The Dolphins captured a 64-46 victory last season in Freedom Hall.

Jacksonville improved to 5-0 in Swisher Gymnasium this season after finishing its nonconference slate with a 74-54 home win over Florida A&M on Thursday. DeShari Graham sank four 3-pointers in scoring a team-high 21 points for the Dolphins, who led 21-11 after the first quarter and 37-24 at halftime. KayKay Hayes followed Graham with 18 points and Seraphine Bastin chipped in 14 as JU shot 53.7 percent from the floor.

That trio leading Jacksonville has been a theme this season, as Graham (13.2 points per game), Bastin (12.8) and Hayes (12.1) are the team's three top scorers. The production doesn't end there, though, as Shynia Jackson (11.6) provides the Dolphins a fourth double-figure scorer. JU ranks fifth in the ASUN at 70.6 points per game.

Jacksonville's most dangerous threat to Bellarmine may be its active defense, as the Dolphins are leading the conference with 11.0 steals per contest. The Knights' biggest issue in nonconference play was turnovers due in large part to losing senior point guard Jaela Johnson to injury only minutes into the season opener.

However, buoyed by the additions of freshman Gracie Merkle and senior transfer Cam Browning, Bellarmine has done an about-face on the boards and made that a team strength this season. The Knights were last in the ASUN in rebounding margin in 2021-22 but are second this year at plus-4.8. Jacksonville is at minus-1.0.

Bellarmine will now be opening ASUN action on the road for the third straight season. The Knights haven't played a road game in nearly a month, following a lengthy stretch away from Freedom Hall to begin the year with a home-heavy December featuring six of seven games in their own territory.

Heading into ASUN competition, Merkle almost certainly is the frontrunner for ASUN Freshman of the Year. The 6-foot-6 center has earned four ASUN Freshman of the Week accolades and ranks first in the league in field-goal percentage (69.9), second in both rebounding (9.4) and blocked shots (2.7) and 12th in scoring (12.8).

Bellarmine has a second top-10 rebounder and shot blocker in the ASUN in Browning, who is seventh in the conference at 7.2 boards per game and seventh at 1.2 swats per contest. Another transfer, sophomore guard Hayley Harrison, is the team's second-leading scorer (10.8).

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