LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Winner of two straight, the Bellarmine University women's basketball team will host its third consecutive ASUN game when the Knights welcome Jacksonville for a 1 p.m. (ET) contest Saturday in Freedom Hall.

The two teams have already met once this season, with Jacksonville (8-7, 2-3 ASUN) capturing a 77-64 victory over Bellarmine (6-13, 2-4) on Jan. 2 in Swisher Gymnasium in the conference opener to improve to 3-1 against the Knights in the all-time series.

In the initial meeting, Jacksonville led 55-47 after three quarters and pulled away for good after opening the fourth period on a 12-0 run. The Dolphins held the Knights without a made field goal for a roughly seven-minute stretch bridging the third and fourth quarters. Jalisa Dunlap paced three JU players in double figures with a game-high 21 points, 17 of which came in the first half when the Dolphins built a 35-28 advantage.

Jacksonville, which according to a press release on its athletic website had its Thursday game at Eastern Kentucky moved to Monday "due to insufficient roster minimums for Jacksonville," fell 65-53 to Liberty last Saturday at home. The Dolphins have had one of the conference's most challenging opening stretches — among their first five conference games, they played FGCU and competed twice against the Flames, the top-two teams in the ASUN preseason coaches' poll.

Seraphine Bastin (13.5 ppg), Shynia Jackson (12.9) and DeShari Graham (12.1) are pacing Jacksonville in scoring. The Dolphins are leading the ASUN in steals at 10.0 per game. They are the league's fifth-highest scoring team (68.8).

Bellarmine is on its first winning streak in ASUN play since being victorious in four conference games in a row in 2020-21, its first season in Division I. The Knights followed an 85-77 triumph over Eastern Kentucky last Saturday by defeating North Florida 65-59 on Thursday.

In the win over North Florida, Gracie Merkle racked up her ASUN-best 12th double-double of the season after registering 21 points and 12 rebounds. The 6-foot-6 center is the reigning ASUN Player and Freshman of the Week, the second time this season she swept the awards. The five-time ASUN Freshman of the Week leads the conference in field-goal percentage (a nation's-best 72.4) and rebounding (10.5) while ranking second in blocked shots (2.5) and third in scoring (15.3).

Senior forward Sheniqua Coatney scored in double figures and recorded at least eight rebounds for the fourth straight game after posting 10 points and eight boards against North Florida. Freshman guard Jayla Butler's best performance to date consisted of career highs in points (11), rebounds (nine) and steals (four) against the Ospreys.

Guard Miyah Brown chipped in 10 points against North Florida as three Bellarmine true freshmen scored in double figures. Merkle, Butler and Brown combined for 42 of the 65 points for the Knights, who committed a season-low 10 turnovers against the Ospreys.

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