Bruins Face Second Top-10 Opponent of Season, Travel to Fourth-Ranked Iowa Sunday

 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Making its first-ever trip to Iowa, the Belmont University women's basketball team takes on its second top-10 opponent of the young season Sunday afternoon as the Bruins head to fourth-ranked Iowa. Tipoff of the marquee non-conference road matchup featuring a pair of NCAA Tournament Round of 32 teams from last year is set for 2 p.m. from inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.

The game will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus, the streaming service of the Big Ten Network, and a paid subscription is required. Dr. Rich Tiner will provide play-by-play of the action on BelmontBruins.com via Belmont All-Access. Live in-game statistics will also be available at BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• Continuing its strenuous five-game road stretch, Belmont hits the road for the second time of 2022-23 after beginning its slate of challenging contests away from the Music City Wednesday evening at Conference USA preseason favorite Middle Tennessee.
• The Bruins (1-2) suffered their second consecutive setback following uncharacteristic offensive mistakes early against the Lady Raiders. Committing 20 turnovers, 17 of which came in the first half, Belmont found itself down 22-7 after the opening quarter and could not recover. Host Middle Tennessee led by as much as 22 in the second half and the Bruins trailed by double figures for the majority of the contest before ultimately falling 80-62. The Lady Raiders scored 21 points off turnovers and owned a 41-29 advantage on the boards, including dominating the offensive glass 17-4. Middle Tennessee scored 46 of its 80 points in the paint and got 14 second-chance points.
• Sophomore forward Kendal Cheesman was Belmont's lone bright spot Wednesday evening as she scored a team-high 14 points in only 12 minutes of action. All her scoring took place in the second half as she went 4-for-6 from distance in only her second game as a Bruin after transferring in from nearby Southeastern Conference mainstay Vanderbilt.
• All 12 of Belmont's players saw the court Wednesday night.
• Junior guard Destinee Wells finished with only five points against the Lady Raiders, which was just her sixth career game not reaching double figures and her second-lowest point total of her collegiate career. She had scored in double figures in 12-straight games, including reaching at least 20 points in five of her last six outings dating back to last year's postseason.
• Sunday afternoon will be the first meeting between the Bruins and Iowa. In fact, Belmont has played a school from the state of Iowa just twice in program history during its NAIA days – Mount Mercy in the 1990-91 season and St. Ambrose in 1991-92, both at neutral sites in national postseason tournaments.
• The Hawkeyes are ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press (AP) Top 25 and No. 6 in the USA Today Sports/Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Coaches Poll.
• The Bruins hosted now sixth-ranked Louisville last Sunday, taking the Cardinals to the brink and trailing by a single point with 6.4 seconds remaining. Belmont held a six-point lead in the second quarter, led by as much as four in the fourth and was up by one with two minutes to go. The tightly-contested contest featured 20 lead changes and 17 ties with neither team leading by more than six. Louisville was the first reigning Final Four program to visit the Curb Event Center and the first top-10 team the Bruins hosted since No. 16 Georgia on Dec. 12, 2013.
• Belmont is 0-7 versus teams ranked in the top 10 of both national polls, 0-8 against teams ranked in the top 10 of the AP Top 25 and 0-9 against USA Today Sports/WBCA Coaches Poll top-10 teams.
• The Bruins last defeated a nationally-ranked opponent on March 22, 2021 in the NCAA Tournament when Belmont ousted 14th-ranked and fifth-seeded Gonzaga 64-59 in the first round. Last season, the Bruins defeated receiving-votes Ole Miss 62-50 on the road in a non-conference affair before upending receiving-votes Oregon 73-70 in a double-overtime thriller in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
• Belmont is 2-14 all-time against current Big Ten Conference members with victories over Indiana and Nebraska. On Dec. 4, 2012, the Bruins won a 58-54 non-conference matchup at Indiana. In the postseason of Belmont's 1975-76 campaign, the Bruins routed Nebraska 77-52 in the 1976 National Women's Invitational Tournament (NWIT).
• Iowa is the third of no fewer than 11 opponents on Belmont's 2022-23 schedule that won at least 20 games last season. The Hawkeyes are the third of at least 12 teams who made a national postseason tournament last March and the second of no less than seven 2022 NCAA Tournament teams the Bruins face this season.
• Wells is the reigning Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week after a pair of 20-point performances in the first two games of the season last week. The junior guard scored 26 of her 40 points on the week in the fourth quarter, grabbed a career-high tying seven rebounds versus the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and put Belmont in front of nationally-ranked Louisville with only 2:17 remaining. Wells went 7-for-7 at the free-throw line in the gritty, come-from-behind 56-54 win over the Mocs, igniting a game-altering 13-2 run in the fourth quarter with a conventional three-point play. She also scored 13 of her team-high 20 points in the final quarter versus the top-10 Cardinals. The Lakeland, Tennessee (Houston HS), native distributed a game-best four assists in the matchup with Louisville and went 12-for-13 at the charity stripe in the two games.
• Wells became the Bruins' 33rd 1,000-point scorer last Sunday and on Tuesday was named to the 2022-23 John R. Wooden Award^® presented by Wendy's^® Preseason Top 50 Watch List. One of only four mid-major players to appear on the prestigious watch list, Wells has scored 1,009 points and registered 266 assists in only 59 career games. She has reached double-figure scoring in 45 of her last 48 games and 53 of 59 career outings. Wells owns 22 20-point games and was tabbed MVC Preseason Player of the Year in Belmont's first year in the league.
• Between graduate transfer guard Sydni Harvey, who scored 1,142 points at South Florida and has accounted for 1,165 career points, and Wells, the Bruins have two career 1,000-point scorers.
• Belmont is receiving seven votes in the AP Top 25 and eight votes in the USA Today Sports/WBCA Coaches Poll.
• One of the premier mid-major programs in the country, the Bruins are ranked No. 6 in the nation in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25^®.
• Entering its first season in the MVC, Belmont was picked to win the conference after a vote of the league's head coaches, sports information directors and media members. The Bruins received 32 of 44 possible first-place votes in the preseason predicted order of finish.
• Ranked 25th in Sports Illustrated's 2022-23 basketball preview edition, Belmont has either been ranked or received votes in at least one of the two major national polls for eight-straight seasons.
• The Bruins are the only non-power conference team to reach the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 each of the last two seasons.
• Belmont has earned a national postseason bid nine of the last 10 years and reached each of the last six NCAA Tournaments.
• The Bruins are one of just 12 programs in the nation and one of only three non-power conference teams (Florida Gulf Coast and South Dakota State) to win 20 or more games for seven-straight seasons. Iowa has won 20 or more games for 15-straight seasons.
• Belmont owns the 17th-most victories in Division I women's basketball history (1,035).
• Belmont is the only school in the nation to win 20 or more games for seven consecutive seasons in both men's and women's basketball.
• In 2021-22, Belmont and BYU were the only two schools in the country who received votes in top-25 coaches polls in men's and women's basketball and baseball during their respective regular seasons.
• In his sixth season at the helm, head coach Bart Brooks has guided the Bruins to an impressive 124-36 (.775) record and eight combined conference championships, including regular season and tournament titles.

About the Hawkeyes

• Off to a 3-1 start, the Hawkeyes were narrowly defeated 84-83 at Kansas State Thursday night. The host Wildcats sunk free throws with 3.8 seconds left and held on, getting a defensive stop on Iowa's final possession.
• The Hawkeyes have already taken on two MVC schools this season, defeating Evansville 115-62 last Thursday at home and winning a 92-86 overtime thriller at Drake last Sunday. The Purple Aces were picked ninth in the MVC preseason poll and the Bulldogs were picked third with six first-place votes.
• Iowa, who is the defending Big Ten regular season and tournament champion, went 24-8 overall last season and reached the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 with a 98-67 first-round win over MVC Tournament champion Illinois State. Going 14-4 in league play, the Hawkeyes shared the Big Ten regular season title with Ohio State and were upset by 10th-seeded Creighton in the second round of the NCAA Tournament as a No. 2 seed.
• Led by 23rd-year head coach Lisa Bluder, the winningest coach in program history with 822 victories and the 14th winningest coach in NCAA Division I women's basketball, Iowa has appeared in 28 total NCAA Tournaments, made eight Sweet 16's, reached four Elite Eights and made the 1993 Final Four.
• Junior Caitlin Clark, a 6-foot point guard, is one of the most prolific scorers and dynamic players in all of college basketball. She has reached 20 points in all four games this season and owns 28 career double-doubles, scoring 27 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, and recording seven assists at Kansas State Thursday night. The reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, Clark earned All-American status as both a freshman and sophomore and has scored over 1,700 points, to go along with 500 assists and nearly 500 rebounds.
• Fifth-year 6-foot-3 forward/center Monika Czinano, also an All-American, has been impressive through the first four games this season, averaging 21.8 points and 6.3 rebounds. She scored 36 points and pulled down 11 rebounds at Drake last weekend.
• Like Wells, Clark and Czinano appear on the preseason watch lists for both the Wooden Award and the Naismith Trophy. Clark was named 2021-22 Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year and joins Wells as early candidates for the 2023 Nancy Lieberman Award.
• An All-Big Ten Second Team performer, senior 6-foot-1 forward/guard McKenna Warnock has scored in double figures each of the last three games and is averaging 10.8 points and 6.8 rebounds thus far this season.

Up Next
Belmont travels to the southwest coast of Florida next week for the 2022 Gulf Coast Showcase, held Friday-Sunday at Hertz Arena in Estero. The Bruins will take on 24th-ranked Villanova Friday at 12:30 p.m. CT/1:30 p.m. ET and play the winner or loser of 17th-ranked Baylor and Saint Louis Saturday. The three-day tournament over Thanksgiving weekend is one of the premier in-season college basketball events and also features 23rd-ranked Michigan and receiving-votes South Florida.
 
Both single game and season tickets are on sale. Season tickets are only $199 per seat and include all men's and women's basketball home games. Click here to view available seating and purchase your seats.
 
Flex pack plans for the 2022-23 season are also on sale and can be purchased here. For more information, call 615-460-BALL or visit BelmontBruins.com.
 
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