Women's Hoops Hosts Illinois State on Regional Television Sunday Afternoon

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Following a three-game stretch on the road, the Belmont University women's basketball team returns to the comforts of the Music City Sunday afternoon for a regionally-televised Missouri Valley Conference matchup with Illinois State. Tipoff from the Curb Event Center is slated for 2 p.m.
 
The MVC matinee will be broadcast regionally on Bally Sports and NBC Sports Chicago Plus, in addition to ESPN+. Connor Onion (play-by-play) and Kelly Burke (analyst) will serve as commentators of the action. Dr. Rich Tiner (play-by-play), former Bruin guard Hannah Harmeyer (analyst) and Hanley Riggs (sideline) will have the call on Belmont Bruins Radio on iHeart Radio. Live in-game statistics will be available at BelmontBruins.com.
 
The contest will air on Bally Sports South, Bally Sports Southeast, Bally Sports Midwest, Bally Sports Indiana and Bally Sports Kansas City in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska and Tennessee. The game will also be available online at BallySports.com and via the Bally Sports app. In select Illinois markets, the game will be on NBC Sports Chicago Plus. Outside of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska and Tennessee, the league matchup will be streamed on ESPN+.
 
Locally, Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast can be found on channels 646 and 649 on DirecTV, channels 1250 and 1251 on Xfinity, and channels 722, 810 or 811 on Spectrum.
 
Free Belmont fanny packs will be available to all fans Sunday.
 
What's Bruin

• The Bruins (7-9, 3-2 MVC) look to extend their three-game home win streak against the visiting Redbirds (10-5, 4-1 MVC) after suffering a 64-46 setback Wednesday evening at familiar conference foe Murray State.
• Last Sunday, Belmont earned its first-ever road victory in the Valley with a gritty 67-61 win at Northern Iowa.
• For the fourth-straight outing, the Bruins will face a team who earned a national postseason berth last season as Belmont takes on its sixth opponent who reached last year's NCAA Tournament.
• Eleven of Belmont's first 16 opponents this season won no fewer than 19 games a year ago and reached a national postseason tournament.
• Since 2012-13, the Bruins have compiled a remarkable 143-31 (.822) record in conference play and won 11 combined championships, including regular season and tournament titles.
• Head coach Bart Brooks is an astounding 83-11 (.883) in league action over his six seasons guiding Belmont.
• Held to a season-low 46 points inside the CFSB Center Wednesday in Kentucky, the Bruins endured uncharacteristic poor shooting as the host Racers got off to a hot start. Murray State began the game 8-for-15 from the floor and shot 57.1 percent in the first half while holding Belmont to 35.7 percent shooting. The Bruins were limited to 33.3 percent for the game and finished 7-for-29 from beyond the arc. Outscored 30-20 in the paint, Belmont was outworked 35-27 on the boards and never found its offensive rhythm. Despite outpacing the Racers 10-2 off turnovers in the second half, the Bruins were hampered by 30.8 percent shooting across the closing 20 minutes. Murray State led by 13 at halftime and ended the third quarter on a 9-2 run after Belmont trimmed the deficit to nine at 41-32 with back-to-back three-pointers from senior guard Nikki Baird. Sophomore guard Kilyn McGuff knocked down a wing three with 5:42 to go to get the Bruins within 12 but the Racers made consecutive triples of their own to all but put the game out of reach. Neither team scored more than four points in the final four-and-a-half minutes. The win was just Murray State's fourth in the 24 meetings between the two programs. It was Belmont's first road loss in the series in over 23 years since Jan. 3, 2000. Sophomore forward Tessa Miller tied her season high with nine points and Baird and junior guard Destinee Wells also scored nine. Held below double figures for only the ninth time in her career, Wells added five rebounds and a trio of assists.
• The Bruins are 106-24 (.815) inside the Curb since the start of the 2012-13 season. Coach Brooks has led Belmont to an outstanding 58-10 (.853) record at home since taking over the reins of the program in April of 2017.
• In conference play, the Bruins have been even more dominant at home going 76-10 (.884) since 2012. In his six seasons, coach Brooks has lost only four league games at the Curb with a 42-4 (.913) record.
• Despite its 7-9 record, Belmont sits just outside the top 100 of the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings at No. 107 as the fifth-highest ranked MVC team. Illinois State owns the fourth-highest NET ranking in the 12-team league, entering the weekend ranked just inside the top 100 at No. 99.
• The Bruins' non-conference strength of schedule is ranked as the 18th-most difficult in the nation. Furthermore, Belmont's average opponent NET ranking (No. 102) is tied for 11th-highest in the country.
• The Bruins have faced a trio of teams ranked in the top 25 of the NET – No. 14 Iowa (Nov. 20), No. 19 Middle Tennessee (Nov. 16) and No. 24 Villanova (Nov. 25). In fact, seven of Belmont's first 10 games were against top-80 NET teams, including the Bruins' final non-conference trip to No. 49 Georgia (Dec. 17), back-to-back matchups against No. 77 Georgia Tech (Nov. 27 and Dec. 4), and a home date with No. 32 Louisville (Nov. 13).
• Seven of Belmont's 10 non-conference opponents this season won over 20 games last year and earned a national postseason tournament bid.
• A total of 13 opponents on the Bruins' schedule reached a national postseason tournament last March, including seven who made the NCAA Tournament, and 12 won at least 20 games last season. Although the Redbirds finished just shy of 20 wins in 2021-22 with a 19-14 record, Illinois State earned the MVC's automatic bid to the Big Dance.
• With a challenging four-game stretch from Nov. 13-25, Belmont has taken on three nationally-ranked teams. Louisville was ranked seventh in the nation when the Cardinals visited Nashville on Nov. 13 and the Bruins 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, Belmont battled then 23rd-ranked Villanova in a high-scoring 83-80 setback.
• Sunday afternoon will be the first-ever meeting between the Bruins and the Redbirds.
• Recording her second career double-double on Jan. 1 in the 72-59 home win over the University of Illinois Chicago with 18 points and 10 rebounds, both of junior forward Madison Bartley's double-doubles have been achieved on New Year's Day. She began 2022 with 21 points and 14 rebounds in a road victory at Eastern Illinois.
• Graduate guard Sydni Harvey garnered MVC Player and Newcomer of the Week accolades following Christmas weekend for her sensational shooting display and 33-point outing in Belmont's thrilling 98-87 overtime victory over Troy on Dec. 20. She recorded the first 30-point game by a Bruin since March 6, 2021, when Wells scored 32 in the 2021 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship game versus UT Martin. Harvey's program record 10 three-pointers were the second-most ever by a MVC player in a game and she became the first NCAA Division I women's basketball player to hit 10 threes in a contest this season. Her 10th trey 78 seconds into overtime put Belmont up 87-82 as she tied the Curb record for made triples in a game. Harvey also became the first Valley player to make 10 threes in a contest since Drake's Kyndal Clark did so versus Loyola Chicago on Jan. 24, 2014. Prior to Harvey's 10-for-12 shooting from outside, the last Division I women's player to make 10 three-pointers on 12 or fewer attempts was Marshall's Taylor Porter, who also went 10-for-12 from deep on March 7, 2019, against Florida International University. The Nashville, Tennessee (Brentwood Academy), native went 3-for-4 at the free-throw line and added a pair of rebounds in the home win over the Trojans. Harvey's 40.7 three-point percentage and 37 made treys on the season are both among MVC leaders.
• With 21 boards against Troy, Miller registered the Bruins' first 20-rebound performance since Ellie Harmeyer notched 20 versus the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on Nov. 6, 2019. Her 21 rebounds were just three off the single-game program record of 24.
• Along with 24 points and a season-high nine assists, Wells added a trio of rebounds and a pair of steals in Belmont's non-conference finale win over the Trojans. She became the first MVC player since 2016 to total 24 points, nine assists and two steals in a game. The Lakeland, Tennessee (Houston HS), native also became the first MVC player since 2012 to tally 24 points, nine assists and two steals while making two or more three-pointers (2-of-5). Wells' 24-point, nine-assist, two-steal performance was only the ninth in the nation this season – three of the first eight such outings were accomplished by Iowa's Caitlin Clark, the reigning Big Ten Conference Player of the Year. With her 25-point output against UIC, Wells became the third Bruin since 2009-10 to score 25-plus points in 10 or more career games, joining Kylee Smith (12) and Ellie Harmeyer (11).
• Four different Belmont players have posted multiple 20-point performances this season with Wells leading the way (6), followed by McGuff, Harvey and Bartley with two 20-point games apiece.
• Wells has been held under double figures in consecutive games just once in her impressive career, finishing with nine points at then No. 4 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 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 star guard 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 1,217 points and registered 322 assists in only 72 career games. She has reached double-figure scoring in all but six of her last 61 games and 63 total career outings. Wells owns 26 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 1,310 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 (1,041).
• 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 130-43 (.751) record and eight combined conference championships, including regular season and tournament titles.

About the Redbirds

• Led by sixth-year head coach Kristen Gillespie, Illinois State reached its first NCAA Tournament since 2008 last year when the Redbirds captured the 2022 MVC Tournament title with a 50-48 win over third-seeded Northern Iowa.
• Illinois State went 12-6 in league play last season and finished fourth in the MVC race.
• The Redbirds are one of three teams atop the conference standings at 4-1, their lone loss in MVC play coming at home to the Panthers (74-64) on New Year's Day.
• Wrapping up a four-game road stretch Sunday in Nashville, Illinois State has won three close games in a row. After defeating Missouri State 67-63 (Jan. 5), the Redbirds took down Southern Illinois (59-56) last Saturday before upending Bradley 60-50 Thursday night.
• In non-conference play, Illinois State suffered a 75-65 setback at Saint Louis on Dec. 3. Belmont defeated the Billikens 78-68 at the Gulf Coast Showcase in southwest Florida over Thanksgiving weekend.
• The Redbirds were picked to finish second in the MVC's preseason predicted order of finish, right behind the Bruins with seven first-place votes.
• Illinois State ranks in the top 30 nationally in three-point percentage (36.1) as a team and is 48th in the nation in blocks per game (4.3).
• Graduate 5-foot-10 guard Paige Robinson, a Division II All-American transfer from Drury, is second in the Valley in scoring (19.0 PPG) while averaging 5.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game.
• Senior 6-foot-2 forward DeAnna Wilson, a 2021-22 All-MVC First Team pick, leads the team in rebounding (7.5 RPG) and is averaging 10.1 points per contest.
• Graduate 5-foot-8 guard Mary Crompton, one of the best three-point shooters in the league, is averaging 10.5 points while shooting at a 43.8-percent clip from outside.
• Redshirt junior 5-foot-8 guard Maya Wong is averaging a team-best 3.6 assists per outing to go along with 8.3 points.

Up Next
Belmont gets a five-day break from game action before completing its three-game homestand next weekend versus Missouri State Friday and Southern Illinois next Sunday.
 
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