The Lady Toppers (5-3) held off a ferocious Bellarmine Knights program (1-5) to win 64-55 on Thursday night in Freedom Hall up in Louisville.

The young team is now riding a four-game winning streak and will hope to bring that momentum home to Diddle Arena on Dec. 5 against Tennessee Tech.

Freshman guard Alexis Mead led the roster with 18 points along with eight rebounds, four steals and a block. Fellow freshman Mya Meredith chipped in 17 points and the veteran Meral Abdelgawad did a little of everything, putting up 11 points, seven boards, five assists and five steals.

Eight different Lady Toppers found their way into the scoring column and the team scored 25 points off of Bellarmine’s 26 turnovers. WKU shot 24-65 from the field (36.9%) and struggled from beyond the arc, going just 5-21 from deep.

WKU held control through the first quarter of the game, riding a 12-0 streak before a Bellarmine three broke the run. The score stood at 27-12 in the away team’s favor midway through the second quarter before the Knights broke off a 21-2 run to take a 33-29 lead into the half, going 10-11 from the stripe for the first 20 minutes of play.

The Lady Toppers got their feet back under them early in the third quarter, coming out of the intermission on a 9-0 run. WKU was able to take a slim 48-45 lead into the fourth, but a layup from Bellarmine’s Lauren Deel gave the home side a 49-48 advantage.

Sophomore guard Hope Sivori tied the game up at 51-all with a layup and Mead broke out on a 6-0 tear to give her team some breathing room at 57-51. Bellarmine could find no answer as the minutes ticked down, locking up another win for the red and white.

The Lady Toppers return home on Sunday afternoon to face Tennessee Tech at 2 p.m. CT, looking to make it five straight.

Sports Editor Jake Moore can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @Charles_JMoore.