Women's Basketball Hosts Troy Tuesday for Holiday Hoops Matchup

 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Wrapping up its non-conference slate, the Belmont University women's basketball team hosts reigning Sun Belt Conference regular season champion Troy University Tuesday afternoon at the Curb Event Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
The holiday hoops matinee matchup will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Dr. Rich Tiner (play-by-play) and former Bruin guard Hannah Harmeyer (analyst) calling the game. Hanley Riggs will be reporting from the sideline. The non-conference contest can also be heard on Belmont Bruins Radio on iHeart Radio. Live in-game statistics will be available at BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• Having played seven of its first 10 games of the season away from home, Belmont begins a much welcomed three-game homestand Tuesday.
• Against one of the most daunting non-conference schedules in the nation, the Bruins have lost three of their last four but have not given up more than 68 points in their last five games.
• Belmont looks to get back to its winning ways after another battle with a power conference opponent over the weekend. The Bruins were within two possessions with three-and-a-half minutes remaining at Georgia Saturday before the host Bulldogs closed the game on a 10-5 run for a 66-55 victory.
• Including Troy, Seven of Belmont's 10 non-conference opponents this season won over 20 games last year and earned a national postseason tournament bid.
• The Trojans, who played in the 2022 WNIT, are the seventh of 12 opponents on the Bruins' schedule who reached a national postseason tournament last March.
• Against one of the top rebounding teams in the nation, Belmont outworked Georgia on the glass (32-31). However, the Bruins were hampered by a season-high 25 turnovers that turned into 27 Bulldog points. Belmont assisted on 16 of its 20 made field goals and went 9-for-24 (.375) from distance, but Georgia held a 30-20 advantage in the paint and got 30 points off the bench. After the two teams were knotted at 15 following the first quarter of play, the Bulldogs outscored the Bruins 17-9 in the second quarter and held a 10-point lead at 47-37 heading into the final quarter. Georgia led by as much as 15 late in the third quarter before junior guard Destinee Wells got Belmont within six at 56-50 with 3:33 to go. It would be as close as the Bruins would get the rest of the way. Junior forward Madison Bartley led a trio of double-figure Belmont scorers with 13 points and six rebounds on 6-for-9 shooting off the bench. Wells scored 12 on 3-for-7 outside shooting and distributed a season-high seven assists. Graduate guard Sydni Harvey scored all 11 of her points in the second half and collected five boards.
• Despite their 3-7 record, the Bruins own a top 100 NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking of No. 89, which is the third-highest of any Missouri Valley Conference team. Troy enters Tuesday with a NET ranking of No. 126.
• Belmont's non-conference strength of schedule is currently ranked as the 13th-most difficult in the nation. Furthermore, the Bruins' average opponent NET ranking is the fifth-highest in the country.
• Belmont has already faced a trio of teams ranked in the top 25 of the NET – No. 14 Iowa (Nov. 20), No. 16 Villanova (Nov. 25) and No. 21 Middle Tennessee (Nov. 16). In fact, seven of the Bruins' first 10 games have been against top-70 NET teams with Belmont's recent trip to No. 49 Georgia, back-to-back matchups against No. 70 Georgia Tech (Nov. 27 and Dec. 4), and a home date with No. 36 Louisville (Nov. 13).
• With a challenging four-game stretch from Nov. 13-25, the Bruins have already taken on three nationally-ranked teams. Louisville was ranked seventh in the nation when the Cardinals visited Nashville on Nov. 13 and Belmont traveled to now receiving-votes Middle Tennessee just three days later before heading to fourth-ranked Iowa on Nov. 20. On Friday, Nov. 25 in Estero, Florida, at the Gulf Coast Showcase, the Bruins battled then 23rd-ranked Villanova in a high-scoring 83-80 setback.
• A total of 11 opponents on Belmont's 2022-23 schedule won at least 20 games last season.
• Tuesday will be the 17th all-time meeting between the Bruins and the Trojans. Belmont holds an 11-5 lead in the series and is 6-1 versus Troy in the Music City. However, the Trojans have won three of the last four matchups including the most recent – a 91-74 road loss for the Bruins on Nov. 16, 2016.
• In Troy's last visit to Nashville on Nov. 29, 2015, Belmont outlasted the Trojans in a 102-93 shootout. The 195 combined points scored represent the highest scoring women's basketball game in the 20-year history of the Curb.
• The two programs spent four seasons together in the ASUN Conference, formerly the Atlantic Sun Conference, from 2001-05. The Bruins went 5-3 against Troy in the two team's former league, including a 53-49 win in the 2003 ASUN Tournament in Orlando, Florida.
• Junior guard Tuti Jones, the 2021-22 Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year and an All-OVC First Team selection, is from Troy, Alabama. She starred at Charles Henderson High School where her mother, Dyneshia Jones Elder, a former Trojan basketball player, is the head coach. Jones helped lead Charles Henderson to the 2020 Alabama Class 5A state title and a perfect 29-0 record as a senior. Charles Henderson is just across the street from Troy's Trojan Arena.
• Since the start of the 2012-13 season, Belmont is 103-24 (.811) inside the Curb. Head coach Bart Brooks has led the Bruins to a remarkable 55-10 (.846) record at home since taking over the reins of the program in April of 2017.
• Four different Belmont players have posted 20-point performances this season with both Wells and sophomore guard Kilyn McGuff having multiple 20-point outings. Over Thanksgiving weekend at the Gulf Coast Showcase in the Sunshine State (Nov. 25-27) Bartley (22 vs. Georgia Tech) and Harvey (24 vs. No. 23 Villanova) turned in 20-point games as well.
• Wells has been held under double figures in consecutive games just once in her impressive career, finishing with nine points at then top-five ranked Iowa on Nov. 20 after scoring five at now receiving-votes Middle Tennessee on Nov. 16.
• Following the first week of the season, Wells was tabbed MVC Player of the Week after a pair of 20-point home showings 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 the Bruins in front of the nationally-ranked Cardinals with only 2:17 remaining. The Lakeland, Tennessee (Houston HS), native became Belmont's 33rd 1,000-point scorer in the tightly-contested matchup with seventh-ranked Louisville and was named to the 2022-23 John R. Wooden Award^® presented by Wendy's^® Preseason Top 50 Watch List after the opening week of the season. One of only four mid-major players to appear on the prestigious watch list, Wells has scored 1,114 points and registered 297 assists in only 66 career games. She has reached double-figure scoring in all but five of her last 55 games and 58 of 66 career outings. Wells owns 24 20-point games and was tabbed MVC Preseason Player of the Year in the Bruins' first year in the league.
• Between Harvey, who scored 1,142 points at South Florida and has accounted for 1,244 career points, and Wells, Belmont has two career 1,000-point scorers.
• The Bruins received seven votes in the Associated Press (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. Belmont 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, the Bruins began the season 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 program 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.
• Belmont owns the 17th-most victories in NCAA Division I women's basketball history (1,037).
• 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 126-41 (.754) record and eight combined conference championships, including regular season and tournament titles.

About the Trojans

• Led by 11th-year head coach Chanda Rigby, Troy is off to a 5-5 start. Having won their last two, the Trojans have not played a common opponent and are 2-3 in true road games this season.
• Picked to repeat as Sun Belt regular season champions, Troy went 13-2 in league play last season and reached its second consecutive Sun Belt Tournament championship game.
• The Trojans have won no fewer than 22 games each of the last four seasons, including going 24-9 in 2021-22.
• As a No. 15 seed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, Troy came within four points of upsetting fourth-ranked and second-seeded Texas A&M in the first round (84-80).
• The Trojans lead the nation in both rebounds per game (53.3 RPG) and offensive boards per contest (24.0 RPG). In addition to its rebounding, Troy owns the 18th-highest scoring offense in the country, averaging 81.4 points per outing, and is 22nd nationally in steals per game (11.7).
• Featuring four players who average double-figure scoring, the Trojans' Felmas Koranga was tabbed preseason Sun Belt Player of the Year after collecting first-team all-conference honors last season and being named 2021 Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year. However, Koranga hasn't suited up for a game since Nov. 16.
• Junior 5-foot-10 guard Nia Daniel is averaging a team-best 13.5 points per contest, while 6-foot-2 forward Ja'Mia Hollings leads Troy in rebounding (7.2 RPG) and is averaging 11.6 points per game. Sophomore 5-foot-5 guard Sharonica Hartsfield leads the Trojans in assists (3.9 APG).

Up Next
Belmont will have 10 days off from game action for Christmas before beginning conference play after the holiday. The Bruins host Valparaiso for their first-ever MVC tilt Friday, Dec. 30 and welcome UIC to the Curb for a New Year's Day affair.

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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