Box Score MURRAY, Ky. – For the fifth time in the last six years, the Belmont University women's basketball team is the Ohio Valley Conference regular season champion. The Bruins captured the OVC regular season title outright Thursday evening inside the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky, with a hard-fought 85-79 victory over Murray State.
Winning its ninth straight and collecting its fifth consecutive road triumph, Belmont shot 51 percent (35-of-69) from the field and led for nearly the entire 40 minutes of action. The Bruins never trailed, hit 10 three-pointers and had five different players reach double-figure scoring for the second-straight outing.
Led by sophomore guard Destinee Wells' game-high 27 points on 12-of-22 shooting, Belmont scored at least 22 points in the first three quarters and got a season-high 14 points on 4-for-7 outside shooting from senior guard Jamilyn Kinney. Committing a season-low two turnovers, the Bruins came up with seven steals and scored 15 points off 10 Racer miscues.
Overcoming a 38-26 deficit on the boards, Belmont racked up a season-high 10 blocks thanks in large part to freshman forward Tessa Miller's career-high five stuffs.
Leading by as much as 14 on multiple occasions, the Bruins used timely scoring runs to improve to 19-7 overall and 15-2 in conference play.
Murray State (20-8, 12-5 OVC) scored 48 of its 79 points in the paint and got 25 points from its bench while also shooting 51 percent (30-of-59) from the floor.
Belmont scored the first two baskets of the game, both courtesy of sophomore forward Madison Bartley, and took an early, six-point lead at 14-8 following a pair of three-pointers from Kinney. A triple by sophomore guard Tuti Jones put the Bruins up eight at 23-15 with just under two minutes left in the opening quarter and Belmont led 23-19 following the first quarter.
Freshman guard Kilyn McGuff nailed two threes in the first three minutes of the second quarter before the Racers climbed within two at 29-27 following a layup from Alexis Burpo. Wells then took things into her own hands, going on a 10-2 run by herself to give the Bruins a 10-point lead at 39-29 with just over three minutes to go in the half.
A Miller layup with just under a minute remaining in the first half made it a 14-point affair at 45-31 and Belmont took a 10-point, 45-35 advantage into the break. The Bruins shot 51.3 percent (20-of-39) in the first half and went 5-for-12 (41.7 percent) from outside as Wells had 14 points first-half points on 7-of-11 shooting.
Murray State was held to 40 percent (12-of-30) shooting in the first half and limited to 1-for-4 from long range. The Racers went 10-for-11 (91 percent) at the free-throw line across the initial 20 minutes with Belmont not earning a trip to the foul line.
Kinney scored eight points in the opening 90 seconds of the second half with her fourth three-pointer putting the Bruins up 53-39. Another trey from Jones kept Belmont in front by 13 at 66-53 with three minutes to go in the third quarter but Murray State would not go away quietly. The Racers outscored the Bruins 5-2 to close the quarter as Belmont took a 68-58 lead into the final 10 minutes.
Senior forward Conley Chinn scored the first four points of the fourth quarter with a clean jumper and a layup giving the Bruins their final 14-point lead of the evening at 72-58. Sophomore guard Blair Schoenwald knocked down her first three of the game with 4:15 to go, giving Belmont a comfortable 79-66 lead. From there, Murray State tightened its defensive pressure and put together a 9-2 run over the ensuing three minutes. The Racers cut the lead to six (81-75) on a Hannah McKay jumper with 1:11 left and remained within six (83-77) with 32 seconds on the clock when Macey Turley connected on a jumper of her own.
Bartley hit clutch free throws with 30 seconds remaining before Burpo scored on a layup in the closing seconds.
The Bruins shot 50 percent (15-of-30) in the second half and went 5-for-12 from long range, while Murray State went 18-of-29 (62.1 percent) from the field and 5-for-10 from outside across the last 20 minutes of play.
Jones finished with 12 points and six rebounds and Bartley registered four blocks to go along with 11 points. Chinn scored 10 on 5-for-5 shooting on twos.
Burpo led the Racers with 16 points on 8-for-10 shooting and Turley contributed 15 points and nine rebounds. Murray State got a double-double of 13 points and 10 boards from McKay and another 15 points from starting forward Katelyn Young.
Thursday marked the seventh time this season five different Belmont players reached double figures in the same game.
With their regular season crown, the Bruins clinched the top seed for next week's OVC Championship, held Wednesday-Saturday, March 2-5 inside the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.
Up Next
The Bruins host Tennessee State Saturday afternoon at the Curb Event Center for a 3 p.m. tipoff. The homecoming and senior day matchup will be broadcast on ESPN+ with seniors Macie Culbertson, Allison Luly, Jamilyn Kinney and Conley Chinn honored prior to the game.
Follow Belmont women's basketball on social media - @BelmontWBB on Twitter, @belmontwbb on Instagram and Belmont Women's Basketball on Facebook - for complete coverage of the Bruins. Stay up to date with all of Belmont's athletic programs via the official app of the Belmont Bruins, available both in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.
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