Throughout the 2018-19 academic year, the Great Lakes Valley Conference will celebrate its 40th anniversary by recognizing 40 teams that made a significant impact both on campus and at the Conference level. Our next featured team is the 1986 Bellarmine women’s basketball squad.
40 TEAMS | 40 YEARS
WEEK 27: 1986 Bellarmine Women’s Basketball
SEASON SUMMARY
The 1985-86 Bellarmine women’s basketball team finished 23-7 overall and shared the GLVC Championship with Northern Kentucky with a 13-3 league record. The Knights, or “Belles” as they were known as at the time, finished the season ranked 12th in the final NCAA Division II national poll and reached the national quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. They suffered a 68-67 defeat to Northern Kentucky in their GLVC opener on Dec. 17, 1985, but responded with seven straight league wins. Bellarmine would only lose again to IPFW (60-58) and Southern Indiana (62-58) by close margins over the course of the GLVC season, which it closed with a 66-65 overtime win at Northern Kentucky on the final day of the regular season to share the Conference crown. The Knights had an immediate rematch with their co-champion, in which they knocked off the Norse 69-52 to open the national tournament, behind All-American Roxanne Cox’s 21 points and 13 rebounds. Helped by All-GLVC second-team honoree Michelle Weakley’s 17 points and 11 rebounds, Bellarmine followed with a 67-54 win over Lake Superior State, and then concluded their season with an 83-49 setback to Cal Poly Pomona in the Elite Eight.
IMPRESSIVE INDIVIDUALS
Roxanne Cox
- AWSF All-America Fourth Team (1986)
- AWSF All-America Honorable Mention (1987)
- NCAA All-Mideast Region
- All-GLVC First Team (1985, 1986)
- Averaged 17.3 points on 53.5 percent shooting, 5.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists (1986)
- Sixth all-time scorer in school history (1,529 points)
- All-time field-goal leader in school history (667)
Michelle Weakley
- GLVC Player of the Year (1987)
- All-GLVC Second Team (1986, 1987,1988)
- Averaged 12.1 points on 49.3 percent shooting, 6.3 rebounds (1986)
- 15th all-time scorer in school history (1,529 points)
Stephanie Tracy
- AWSF All-America First Team (1989)
- GTE Academic All-America First Team (1989)
- AWSF All-America Second Team (1987, 1988)
- GLVC Player of the Year (1989)
- All-GLVC First Team (1987, 1988, 1989)
- Averaged 13.1 points on 47.1 percent shooting, 6.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists (1986)
- All-time scorer in school history (1,936 points)
- Finished career holding 13 program records
LASTING LEGACY
Under the direction of second-year head coach Charlie Just, who would go on to be named GLVC Coach of the Year in 1994 and 1996, Bellarmine set out to accomplish three goals during the 1985-86 season: win 20 games, capture the GLVC title and make the NCAA Tournament. The “Belles” did all three. And by doing so, they also earned the recognition as the first women’s program to win a GLVC Championship in school history. Bellarmine went 16-12 in Just’s first year and improved on that mark to set the foundation for future success. The 1986 GLVC title was the first of four in program history (1986-94-96-2016), which rank sixth-most in Conference history. The first three league championships were captured before the GLVC conducted a postseason tournament. After winning the 2016 crown, Bellarmine would make another run at the GLVC title in 2019, but fell in the final game to top-ranked and unbeaten Drury. The Knights also added to their regional championship count by adding the 1990, 1991 and 1994 titles to go with their 1986 crown. While Roxanne Cox guided the 1986 squad as the program’s first All-American, two of the team’s underclassmen – sophomore Michelle Weakley and freshman Stephanie Tracy – would go on to be named the GLVC Player of the Year in 1987 and 1989, respectively. Shanta Bowens is the only other Knight to earn the league’s top honor, as she shared the award with Quincy’s Jessica Stuckman in 2004. Bellarmine has also become accustomed to bringing in and immediately producing top talent as the Knights own six GLVC Freshman of the Year awards, including Cathy Brawner (1992), Stephanie Pieper (2003), Angela Smith (2005), Dana Beaven (2006), Jalissa Chatlos (2010) and Raven Merriweather (2015).