Dec. 29, 2007

MIDLAND - Bellarmine rallied back from an eight-point halftime deficit to defeat the Lake Superior State women's basketball team, 84-61, on Saturday during the first round of Northwood's GLIAC v. GLVC Challenge.

LSSU (4-8), which played in two GLIAC v. GLVC Challenges at the beginning of the season, dropped to 2-3 against Great Lakes Valley Conference opponents. Bellarmine (7-5) is 0-2 in its own conference, but has non-league wins over Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference defending divisional champions Grand Valley State and Gannon, as well as LSSU.

The Lakers take on St. Joseph's (1-6) at 1 p.m. Sunday at NU. The game will be broadcast live on WSOO 1230 AM and simulcast on www.lssulakers.com. Pay-per-view video coverage is available on the B2 Network.

LSSU dominated the latter stages of the first half with its post play, bouncing back from an early 9-2 deficit to build a 10-point lead. Bellarmine made two free throws with five seconds to go to cut the lead to 33-25 at intermission.

The Lakers led by as many as 11 points early in the second half, but Bellarmine quickly cut it to five by hitting back-to-back three-pointers. It was a seven-point game when the Lady Knights went on a 10-1 run to go ahead, 45-43, with 12:52 remaining.

After LSSU scored to tie it, 45-45, the Lady Knights soared ahead thanks to a 28-3 run. BU shot 61.1 percent from the field in the second half after shooting only 27.6 percent in the first half.

Jaclyn Armstrong led LSSU with 12 points, and Allison Jaynes had 11. Amanda Epolito scored nine points, and Emily Joseph had eight points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Lake Superior State shot 36.5 percent from the field for the game, including 6-of-19 from three-point range, and made 9-of-14 free throws. Bellarmine was 19-of-25 at the line and out-rebounded the Lakers, 45-36. LSSU led the boards in the first half, 22-18.