Lady Knights compete in NCAA tournament

Team bows out to Lewis in GLVC and NCAA tournaments

The Lady Knights traveled to Romeoville, Illinois to finish out their 2006-07 season. After falling out of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) tournament in the semifinal, Bellarmine qualified for the NCAA Division II tournament, extending their season. BU was defeated by host team No. 9 Lewis University, in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Bellarmine began with a running chance in the first half but after Lewis went on a strong run, the game was over for the Lady Knights. Lewis finished the first half by making eight of 10 3-pointers that ended the first half. The score at the end half was 49-28, Lewis.

BU knew what it would take to regain the lead, and they fought until the end. The Lady Knights opened the second half by scoring six straight points to cut the lead to 49-34. Lewis' Darcee Schmidt buried a 3-pointer to end the run for BU.

Bellarmine continued to battle, but the Lady Knights had no answer for Schmidt, who finished with a game-high 26 points and nine rebounds. Schmidt, the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Player of the Year, scored 43 and 33 points against Bellarmine in the regular season.

Final score of the game was 82-62 victory for Lewis.

This was the fourth meeting between Bellarmine and Lewis this season. The Flyers were victorious in all four games.

Outside of their regular season meetings, Bellarmine's third match-up against Lewis came in the GLVC semifinal.

The Lady Knights built up their second half lead when they scored 10 straight points, starting with Dana Beaven's 3-pointer. A pair of free throws by Denasha Mondy and the score was 50-41 in favor of Bellarmine with just under 12 minutes left.

BU held an eight-point lead with nine minutes left in the game, but Lewis pulled away and triumphed once again verse the Lady Knights.

Lewis proceeded to go on a game changing run of their own, however, outscoring Bellarmine by 12 points between the 9-minute mark and 4:38, to take over the lead.

Final score was 66-60 victory for Lewis.

Bellarmine defeated Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville (SIUE) in the first round of the GLVC tournament. Both teams started out a little anxious, but after a few minutes the game was underway.

Beaven and Mondy sparked a run for the Lady Knights late in the first half. Beaven hit a pair of free throws, and then Mondy glided through a left-handed lay-up. Beaven gave the Bellarmine their biggest lead of the half by drilling a 3-pointer from the top of the key with about two minutes left to put them up 34-24.

After falling behind at the end of the first half, Bellarmine returned to the second half and Angela Smith immediately hit a 3-pointer to put the Lady Knights up 41-39 and swing the momentum back in her team's favor. A few moments later, Smith hit another three from the same spot on the left wing. The Lady Cougars were done; they would not be able to cut the margin to fewer than seven points the rest of the game.


The Lady Knights concluded their season with a 19-11 (11-8) record. Coach David Smith, finished the season with 499 wins. Smith will have to wait until next year to become the 13th Division II coach to record 500 career victories.