LOUISVILLE -- Senior Brittney Fair scored a career-high 25 points, but Beth Bowers hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 57 seconds to play and Bellarmine held on for an 84-81 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory over Wisconsin-Parkside on Saturday in Knights Hall.

The Rangers tied the game at 76-76 with 1:16 to play in the second half when Taylor Stephen hit a pair of free throws, but Bowers drilled a three-pointer on the Knights next possession giving Bellarmine the lead for good at 79-76.

Bowers, who finished with 13 points, made one of two free throws with 33 seconds to play to increase the lead to 80-76, but the Rangers did not go away.

Kauri Jensen converted a three-point play for Wisconsin-Parkside with 18 seconds remaining in regulation to trim the lead to 80-79.

Bellarmine then made four consecutive free throws, the last two coming by Raven Merriweather with 4.8 seconds to play, to secure the victory.

Wisconsin-Parkside, which dropped to 5-12 overall and 3-6 in the GLVC, had a chance to tie the game at the end of regulation but a three-point attempt by Stephen came up just short.

Fair, who has scored at least 20 points in three of the last four games, topped her previous career high of 21 points she scored in the Rangers home victory over Missouri-St. Louis on Jan. 14 of this year.

Wisconsin-Parkside shot a season-high 50.9 percent from the floor, but turned the ball over 20 times which led to 26 Bellarmine points.

Stephen also reached double figures for the Rangers as she had 11 points and eight rebounds. Lauren Boerger and Blair Arthur each finished with nine points and Shelby Cheston added eight points.

Bellarmine, which improved to 16-2 overall and 8-1 in conference play, was led by Merriweather who scored 17 points. Sarah Galvin added 16 points and seven rebounds, while Whitney Hartlage finished with 16 points.

Wisconsin-Parkside came out blazing in the first quarter as the Rangers stormed out to a 24-21 lead on the strength of 73.3 percent shooting from the floor and eight points from Cheston and seven points from Arthur.

Bellarmine turned the tables in the second quarter as the Knights limited the Rangers to just 25.0 percent shooting and outscored UWP 21-10 on its way to a 42-34 halftime advantage.

The Rangers regained their shooting touch in the third quarter as Wisconsin-Parkside shot 75.0 percent from the floor and made 4-of-5 from the three-point line. The Rangers took a 58-56 lead into the fourth quarter after closing the third quarter on a 6-0 run, which included four points from Fair.

Wisconsin-Parkside returns to action on Thursday (Jan. 26) when it hosts Illinois Springfield in a GLVC game beginning at 5:30 p.m. in DeSimone Gymnasium.