Bruins Welcome ACC Mainstay Georgia Tech to the Curb Sunday

 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – For the second consecutive Sunday afternoon, the Belmont University women's basketball team will take on the Atlantic Coast Conference's Georgia Tech. The Bruins (2-5) host the Yellow Jackets (6-2) at the Curb Event Center for a 2 p.m. tip a week after facing Georgia Tech at the 2022 Gulf Coast Showcase in southwest Florida.
 
The marquee non-conference matinee matchup will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Dr. Rich Tiner providing play-by-play of the action and former Belmont forward Ellie Harmeyer serving as analyst. Hanley Riggs will be reporting from the sideline. The game can also be heard on Belmont All-Access via BelmontBruins.com. Live in-game statistics will be available at BelmontBruins.com as well.
 
Free Title IX t-shirts will be given away prior to tipoff Sunday in concert with the 50th anniversary of Title IX.
 
What's Bruin

• The Yellow Jackets took the first meeting between the two teams this season, rallying for a 58-52 win over the Bruins last Sunday at Hertz Arena in Estero, Florida, on the third and final day of the Gulf Coast Showcase.
• Georgia Tech will be the second ACC team to visit the Curb this season as Belmont hosted top-10 ranked Louisville on Sunday, Nov. 13.
• Returning from a challenging five-game stretch away from home, the Bruins seek their third win of the young season. Belmont enters the weekend 1-1 at home after defeating the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga 56-54 in its 2022-23 opener.
• Last weekend, the Bruins competed at the 10th annual Gulf Coast Showcase where they went 1-2 and picked up a 78-68 victory over Saint Louis. The neutral-site win over the Billikens last Saturday was Belmont's first MTE (multi-team event) victory since November of 2017.
• Featuring a trio of nationally-ranked programs – No. 21 Baylor, No. 17 Michigan and No. 25 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 season'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.
• The Bruins nearly knocked off nationally-ranked Villanova in the first round of the Gulf Coast Showcase last Friday afternoon, storming back from a 21-point third-quarter deficit with a 20-2 scoring run before ultimately falling 83-80.
• In the first of back-to-back games against the Yellow Jackets last Sunday, Belmont overcame a 12-point halftime deficit and took a five-point lead late in the third quarter. The Bruins scored the first even points of the game and got a season-high 22 points from junior forward Madison Bartley, who also grabbed a season-high tying seven rebounds. Belmont led 39-36 heading into the final quarter of play after outscoring Georgia Tech 22-7 in the third quarter and held a 50-45 lead with 3:05 left. However, the Yellow Jackets closed the game on a 13-2 run to earn the tightly-contested affair. Georgia Tech made nine free throws in the last 90 seconds and finished 18-for-25 at the foul line. The Bruins assisted on 13 of their 20 made field goals as the game featured seven lead changes and three ties. Both teams lead for 18-and-a-half minutes of on-court action. In addition to Bartley's 22 points, junior guard Tuti Jones snagged a career-high matching 11 boards. The Yellow Jackets got a game-best 24 points and seven rebounds from leading scorer Bianca Jackson and 12 points and six caroms from starting guard Cameron Swartz.
• Belmont has already faced three top-25 teams this season with a difficult four-game stretch from Nov. 13-25. The Bruins played host to then seventh-ranked Louisville (Nov. 13) before tough road tests at Middle Tennessee (Nov. 16) and then fourth-ranked Iowa (Nov. 20). On Friday, Nov. 25, Belmont battled then 23rd-ranked Villanova. Five of the Bruins' first seven opponents this season won over 20 games last year and earned a national postseason tournament bid. In fact, 11 opponents on Belmont's 2022-23 schedule won at least 20 games last season and 12 reached a national postseason tournament last March. Georgia Tech is the fourth of seven 2022 NCAA Tournament teams the Bruins take on this season.
• Four different Belmont players scored 20 points or more over Thanksgiving weekend in the Sunshine State – junior forward Madison Bartley (22 vs. Georgia Tech), junior guard Destinee Wells (26 vs. Saint Louis, sophomore guard Kilyn McGuff (20 vs. Saint Louis) and graduate guard Sydni Harvey (24 vs. No. 23 Villanova).
• Sunday afternoon will be the fourth all-time meeting between the Bruins and Yellow Jackets with Georgia Tech winning all three previous matchups. Each of the first two meetings took place in Atlanta with the Yellow Jackets defeating Belmont 58-45 on Nov. 14 last year. In the first game between the two programs, Georgia Tech notched a 76-64 win on Jan. 24, 1998.
• Last November, the host 17th-ranked Yellow Jackets also closed out a hard-fought game on a 13-2 run after the Bruins trailed by only two at 45-43 with five minutes to go.
• Belmont is 5-13 all-time versus current ACC members with victories over Louisville, North Carolina, Wake Forest and Clemson.
• Former Bruin standout Kylee Smith (2015-18) is in her first season on Georgia Tech's staff as the program's director of creative content and brand manager. Prior to her four-year professional career overseas, Smith was a three-time All-Ohio Valley Conference First Team selection, the 2017 OVC Tournament MVP, and the 2018 Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association (DI-AAA ADA) Scholar-Athlete of the Year. In addition to ranking fourth on Belmont's NCAA era scoring list with 1,520 career points, Smith helped lead the Bruins to their first national ranking during the 2017-18 season and five combined OVC championships. Tabbed Tennessee Sports Writers Association (TSWA) Player of the Year as a senior, Smith garnered CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) Academic All-America^® honors and was named a 2016-17 OVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She went 82-19 during her three-year Belmont career after transferring in from Vanderbilt and aided the Bruins to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.
• 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 Sunday, Nov. 20 after scoring five at Middle Tennessee on Wednesday, Nov. 16. She is coming off a seven-point performance against the Yellow Jackets last Sunday.
• Following the first week of the season, Wells was tabbed Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week after a pair of 20-point home showings against 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 named to the 2022-23 John R. Wooden Award^® presented by Wendy's^® Preseason Top 50 Watch List after the opening week. One of only four mid-major players to appear on the prestigious watch list, Wells has scored 1,067 points and registered 284 assists in only 63 career games. She has reached double-figure scoring in all but five of her last 52 games and 55 of 63 career outings. Wells owns 23 20-point games and was tabbed MVC Preseason Player of the Year in Belmont's first year in the league.
• Between graduate guard Sydni Harvey, who scored 1,142 points at South Florida and has accounted for 1,219 career points, and Wells, the Bruins have two career 1,000-point scorers.
• Since the start of the 2012-13 season, Belmont is 103-23 (.817) inside the Curb. Head coach Bart Brooks is 55-9 (.859) at home since taking over the reins of the program in April of 2017.
• 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 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.
• Belmont owns the 17th-most victories in NCAA Division I women's basketball history (1,036).
• 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 125-39 (.762) record and eight combined conference championships, including regular season and tournament titles.

About the Yellow Jackets

• Led by fourth-year head coach Nell Fortner, a former U.S. National Team head coach, Georgia Tech is 6-2 on the season with wins over Georgia State (60-42), Kennesaw State (65-39), Auburn (57-51), Air Force (65-59) and Michigan State (66-63). The Yellow Jackets' only losses this year have come at home versus Georgia (66-52) and at the Gulf Coast Showcase where they fell 63-50 to South Florida in the first round.
• Following its back-to-back setbacks, Georgia Tech has rattled off three-straight victories. The Yellow Jackets closed out their stay in Florida with wins over Air Force and Belmont. On Thursday night, Georgia Tech picked up a gritty three-point triumph at Michigan State. Despite 48 combined turnovers Thursday in Michigan, 23 committed by the Yellow Jackets, Georgia Tech led for 25 minutes of a contest that saw 13 lead changes and seven ties. The Yellow Jackets got 39 combined points from graduate transfer guards Cameron Swartz and Bianca Jackson. Georgia Tech held on for the win after the Spartans had multiple chances to tie the game but couldn't convert on three-point attempts.
• A transfer from fellow ACC member Florida State, Jackson has scored over 20 points in each of her last two outings and leads the team with 13.8 points per game. A transfer from Boston College and the reigning ACC Most Improved Player, Swartz is averaging 13.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest.
• The Yellow Jackets reached their second-straight NCAA Tournament last March and earned a No. 9 seed where they bowed out to eighth-seeded Kansas (77-58) in the first round.
• Georgia Tech reached the Sweet 16 in the 2021 NCAA Tournament as a No. 5 seed.
• The Yellow Jackets are one of the best defensive teams in the nation, ranking seventh in the country in three-point percentage defense (20.7), 11th in field-goal percentage defense (33.0) and 30th in scoring defense (54.4 PPG).

Up Next
The Bruins head down the boulevard Tuesday evening for the 76th Battle of the Boulevard versus rival Lipscomb. Tipoff from Allen Arena on the opposite end of the boulevard is set for 6 p.m. The non-conference game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

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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