MISHAWAKA, Ind. --- Talia Pellegrini came off the bench to score a career-high 15 points and the University of St. Francis women's basketball team moved to 2-0 on the young season with a 67-57 road victory over Bethel University on Wednesday night.

Pellegrini hit a trio of three-pointers, the same number as leading scorer Le'lani Harris (17 points), in leading a bench unit that outscored the opposition's reserves by a 28-10 count.  She also distributed three assists.

Others that came off the bench included Tykara Harrison (6 points), Keijah Gray (four) and Mia Kennelly (3 points/5 steals/3 assists/5 rebounds).

Making her first start as a Saint, Akyia Baker registered her first double-figure scoring output with 12 markers.  She provided three assists, as well.   

The Saints also relied on their defense again, forcing 25 turnovers and turning those miscues into a 22-8 scoring advantage in points off turnovers.  That more than offset a 41-26 rebounding advantage by Bethel, which was led by Maiah Shelton's 16 points and eight boards.

Bethel (1-2) jumped out to an initial 9-2 lead, but the Saints wiped that out moments later with their own 14-2 run that went into the second quarter and gave USF a 19-13 lead.  Head coach John McGinty's club would not trail the rest of the way, but Bethel did make things interesting in its 25-point fourth quarter. 

The Pilots got to within a three-pointer (44-41) after trailing by as many as 12 points one quarter earlier.  Kennelly and Pellegrini stemmed the tide with three pointers and the Saints hit 6-of-8 three-pointers down the stretch to win by double figures.

Notes: Baylei Johnson made her first start as a Saint and contributed six points and five rebounds.  She was one of three Saints with a team-high five boards … St. Francis converted 11 of its 14 free throws on the night (78.6 pct.), while Bethel was 14-of-25 (56 pct.) … The two teams combined for 48 points in the fourth quarter, where they shot 66.7 percent together.  It was the only quarter in which both teams shot better than 50 percent from the field and after they combined to make just six of 29 shots (20.7 pct.) in the third quarter … The Saints are back in Indiana on Saturday to take on Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College at noon.    

Links to live coverage can be found at gofightingsaints.com/coverage. You can also keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on Twitter @USFSaints.