ESTERO, Fla. — After facing a 24-point deficit early in the third quarter, Saint Louis crawled its way back to pull within six late in the second half, but Belmont came away with the 78-68 victory.
The Billikens moved to 1-7 on the season, while Belmont picked up its second win, going to 2-4.
"We have to raise our standard of what good defense is," head coach Rebecca Tillett said. "I thought our team responded to that in the second half, especially in the fourth.
"As a staff, we have to keep simplifying things," Tillett said. "As a group, we have to keep rising up. Eventually you have to be able to execute more and more complicated schemes."
Kyla McMakin led a second half surge for the Billikens and finished with 24 points, four assists and two rebounds.
"Coach Tillett really talked about toughness and having that fighting back mentality that we lacked yesterday with Baylor," McMakin said. "Everyone was coming out ready to fight back. No matter what the score was, we were going to fight until the very end."
SLU began the game on 15-0 run, connecting on six of its first seven shots and holding the Bruins scoreless for over four minutes.
Belmont responded with a 12-0 spurt of its own to pull within six at 22-16 at the end of the first quarter. The Billikens scored 14 points on six Bruin turnovers and shot 60 percent from the field (9-15) in the frame.
The Bruins outscored SLU 24-4 in the second quarter to open a 40-26 advantage at the half.
After trailing by 24 points with 2:53 remaining in the third quarter, the Billikens ended the frame on 15-2 run, including 10 points from McMakin.
A McMakin bucket with just over one minute remaining in regulation pulled the Billikens within six at 74-68, but Belmont posted the final four points of the contest to come away with the victory.
Brooke Flowers came a rebound shy of a double-double, finishing with 12 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots.
Julia Martinez registered nine points, eight rebounds and three steals.
The Billikens return to action Sunday on the final day of the Gulf Coast Showcase and will square of with Air Force or Georgia Tech, depending on the outcome of that matchup, at 10 a.m. CT.
