Bruins Face Saint Louis Saturday Morning in Southwest Florida

 
ESTERO, Fla. – For the first time in three outings, the Belmont University women's basketball team will not be facing a nationally-ranked opponent as the Bruins (1-4) continue play at the 2022 Gulf Coast Showcase Saturday morning in Estero, Florida. Belmont takes on Saint Louis University at 10 a.m. CT/11 a.m. ET in the consolation bracket of the three-day Thanksgiving tournament held at Hertz Arena.
 
The non-conference neutral-site matchup will be broadcast on FloHoops and can be accessed through a paid subscription. Dr. Rich Tiner will provide play-by-play of the action on Belmont Bruins Radio via iHeartRadio. Live in-game statistics will be available at BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• Featuring a trio of nationally-ranked programs – No. 21 Baylor, No. 22 Michigan and No. 23 Villanova – in addition to receiving-votes South Florida, the three-day Gulf Coast Showcase is one of the premier in-season college basketball tournaments. Seven of the eight participants in this year's Gulf Coast Showcase made national postseason play in 2021-22 while half the tournament field won at least one game in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
• Joining the Bruins in the Fort Myers, Florida, area this weekend is Air Force (3-2), three-time national champion Baylor (4-1), ACC mainstay Georgia Tech (3-2), Michigan (5-0), Saint Louis (1-6), South Florida (7-0) and Villanova (5-0). The Wolverines reached last season's Elite Eight, while Belmont, Baylor and Villanova all appeared in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32. Georgia Tech and South Florida also made the 68-team NCAA Tournament field this past March.
• The Bruins took 23rd-ranked Villanova to the final possession Friday afternoon to begin Gulf Coast Showcase play, battling back from a 21-point deficit in the third quarter before ultimately falling 83-80. Led by inspired play from graduate guard Sydni Harvey, who scored 24 points on 9-for-16 shooting, Belmont went on a 20-2 scoring run from the midway point of the third quarter to two minutes into the fourth quarter. Despite trailing for nearly the entirety of the game, the Bruins tied up the score twice in the fourth quarter and got 10 consecutive points from Harvey. Overcoming the Wildcats' impressive 72.4 percent (21-of-29) shooting in the first half, Belmont held Villanova to 36 percent (9-of-25) shooting across the closing 20 minutes. In fact, the Bruins didn't surrender a Wildcat basket for in the final four minutes of the contest. Belmont outscored Villanova 40-30 in the second half as four Bruins reached double figures.
• The Wildcats, who are ranked 23rd in this week's Associated Press (AP) Top 25 and are receiving 52 votes in the USA Today Sports/Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Coaches Poll, represented the third nationally-ranked opponent for Belmont in four games.
• Four of the Bruins' first five opponents this season won over 20 games last year and earned at least one victory in a national postseason tournament.
• No fewer than 11 opponents on Belmont's 2022-23 schedule won at least 20 games last season and none less than 12 earned a bid to a national postseason tournament last March. Villanova was the third of no fewer than seven 2022 NCAA Tournament teams the Bruins face this season.
• Saturday morning will be the first-ever meeting between Belmont and the Billikens.
• The Bruins have faced a current Atlantic 10 Conference member just three times in program history and are 1-2 after splitting games with VCU. Belmont defeated VCU at home to open its 2004-05 campaign and dropped a neutral-site game to Richmond during the 2008-09 season.  
• Under head coach Bart Brooks, the Bruins are 16-9 (.640) in neutral-site games and Belmont has gone 7-3 in neutral-site affairs since the beginning of the 2020-21 season.
• The Bruins are seeking their first MTE (multi-team event) win since defeating Gonzaga and Florida Gulf Coast, both of whom were receiving top-25 votes, in November of 2017 at the Play4Kay Showcase in Las Vegas.
• Prior to the Gulf Coast Showcase, Belmont last played in an MTE in November of 2019 when the Bruins took on Virginia Tech and ninth-ranked Maryland at the Daytona Beach Invitational in Florida.
• On a four-game slide, Belmont is seeking its second win of the season after four challenging tests against some of the nation's best. The Bruins took then seventh-ranked Louisville down to the wire at home on Sunday, Nov. 13 before suffering a setback at Middle Tennessee on Wednesday, Nov. 16. This past Sunday, Belmont battled top-10 ranked Iowa on the road before facing top-25 Villanova Friday.
• Sophomore forward Kendal Cheesman grew up in Tampa, Florida, where she starred at H.B. Plant High School. Rated a four-star recruit by Prospects Nation, Cheesman is Plant's all-time leading scorer (1,706 points), rebounder (1,177 rebounds) and shot blocker (288 blocks). She racked up an impressive 50 double-doubles during her four-year varsity career and captained the Lady Panthers all four seasons. Cheesman led Plant to back-to-back state title game appearances and the 2021 Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) Class 7A state championship. The highly-touted Sunshine State recruit scored 24 points and snagged 18 boards in the state title game en route to being named 2020-21 Gatorade Florida Girls Basketball Player of the Year, 2021 Florida Dairy Farmers Class 7A Player of the Year and MaxPreps Florida Player of the Year. Last Wednesday at Middle Tennessee, Cheesman was the Bruins' lone bright spot 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 donning the Belmont jersey after transferring in from nearby Southeastern Conference member Vanderbilt.
• Harvey, a Nashville native, spent the first four years of her collegiate career along the Gulf Coast of Florida at South Florida. An All-American Athletic Conference performer, Harvey averaged 10.5 points for the Bulls and helped lead USF to back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths her last two seasons. She won 81 games as a Bull and was named the 2021 AAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player, helping lead USF to 2020-21 AAC regular season and tournament championships. Harvey scored in double figures 56 times while at USF and has reached double figures in three of her first five games as a Bruin.
• Junior guard Destinee Wells has been held under double figures in consecutive games just once in her impressive career, finishing with nine points at then fourth-ranked Iowa this past weekend and scoring five against the Lady Raiders last Wednesday evening.
• Following the first week of the season, Wells was tabbed Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week after a pair of 20-point home performances against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and top-10 ranked Louisville. Wells scored 26 of her 40 points on the week in the fourth quarter, grabbed a career-high tying seven rebounds against the Mocs, and put Belmont in front of the nationally-ranked Cardinals with only 2:17 remaining. The Lakeland, Tennessee (Houston HS), native became the Bruins' 33rd 1,000-point scorer in the tightly-contested matchup with seventh-ranked Louisville and was recently 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 1,034 points and registered 274 assists in only 61 career games. She has reached double-figure scoring in 46 of her last 50 games and 54 of 61 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 Harvey, who scored 1,142 points at South Florida and has accounted for 1,200 career points, and Wells, the Bruins have two career 1,000-point scorers.
• Belmont received seven votes in the AP Top 25 and eight votes in the USA Today Sports/Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Coaches Poll following week one of the regular season. The Bruins received 14 votes in the preseason AP Top 25 and nine votes in the preseason USA Today Sports/WBCA Coaches Poll.
• One of the premier mid-major programs in the country, Belmont is ranked No. 9 in the nation in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25^®.
• Entering their first season in the MVC, the Bruins were picked to win the conference after a vote of the league's head coaches, sports information directors and media members. Belmont 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, the Bruins have either been ranked or received votes in at least one of the two major national polls for eight-straight seasons.
• Belmont is the only non-power conference team to reach the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 each of the last two seasons.
• The Bruins have earned a national postseason bid nine of the last 10 years and reached each of the last six NCAA Tournaments.
• Belmont is 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.
• The Bruins own the 17th-most victories in NCAA 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, coach Brooks has guided the Bruins to an impressive 124-38 (.765) record and eight combined conference championships, including regular season and tournament titles.

About the Billikens

• Led by first-year head coach Rebecca Tillett, Saint Louis off to a 1-6 start with the Billikens' lone win on the season coming in a 95-38 home rout of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville on Friday, Nov. 11.
• Three of Saint Louis' six losses have been by four points or less. The Billikens have already taken on two MVC teams, suffering a two-point 64-62 setback at Indiana State (Nov. 7) and dropping an 84-64 decision at Northern Iowa.
• Saint Louis was defeated 92-58 by 21st-ranked Baylor in the opening game of the Gulf Coast Showcase.
• The Billikens went 9-18 overall last year and finished 11th in the then 14-team A-10 with a 5-9 league record.

Up Next
The Bruins will play the winner or loser of Georgia Tech and Air Force Sunday in either the fifth-place or seventh-place game of the Gulf Coast Showcase. The Yellow Jackets and the Falcons tip off at 12:30 p.m. CT/1:30 p.m. ET Saturday.

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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