Women's Hoops Takes On Northwestern Friday in Vegas

 
LAS VEGAS – Following a tightly-contested game with top-five ranked Stanford Wednesday afternoon in Las Vegas, the Belmont University women's basketball team closes the 2023 Ball Dawgs Classic with the Big Ten Conference's Northwestern Friday night. Tipoff from The Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nevada, is slated for approximately 11 p.m. CT/9 p.m. PT or 30 minutes following the Ball Dawgs Classic championship game.
 
Friday's Thanksgiving tournament matchup will be broadcast on FloHoops with Geoff Nathanson and Kevaney Martin calling the game. A subscription to FloHoops is required, however, the game can be heard on Belmont Bruins Radio on iHeart Radio for free with Dr. Rich Tiner providing play-by-play of the contest. Live in-game statistics will be available at BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• In their first game of the Ball Dawgs Classic, the Bruins (2-3) went toe-to-toe with one of the nation's top programs as Belmont hung tough with fourth-ranked Stanford for 35 minutes of play. The Bruins held the Cardinal to a season-low point total and owned a lead as late as the third quarter before ultimately falling 74-55. Nationally-ranked Stanford ended the game on a 15-2 run.
• While committing a season-low 10 turnovers for the second consecutive outing, Belmont limited the Cardinal to 38 percent (27-of-71) shooting, its lowest mark of the season. The Bruins outscored Stanford 34-26 in the paint, despite being outrebounded 52-33.
• Five of Belmont's first six games of the season are against power conference programs. The Bruins will see six total power conference teams in 2023-24.
• Last Sunday, Belmont came within a basket of defeating now top-25 ranked Mississippi State inside the Curb Event Center. A free-throw line jumper by freshman standout guard Jailyn Banks and a putback attempt from junior guard Kilyn McGuff both rimmed off in the final seconds of a 63-62 loss.
• The Bruins nearly went 2-1 against the Southeastern Conference as Belmont routed the University of Georgia 76-50 in its home opener on Friday, Nov. 10. In their season opener, the Bruins dropped a 72-61 decision at the University of Missouri.
• Belmont has earned four wins over power conference teams in four seasons – Georgia, Oregon, Ole Miss and Auburn.
• After her true junior season was cut short due to injury last year, guard Tuti Jones returned for the season opener against the Tigers and has distributed at least four assists in each of the first five games. She has scored 18 points and dished out a game-best five assists in both of the last two games. Named to the Preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference Second Team, the Troy, Alabama (Charles Henderson HS), native was the Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year and an All-OVC First Team selection as a sophomore in 2021-22.
• Junior forward Tessa Miller has scored in double figures in each of the first five games of the season and is coming off a career-high 18-point performance versus the Cardinal. She went 9-for-16 from the field against Stanford and is shooting 60 percent on the season.
• Reaching double figures in all but one game thus far, Banks put up 10 points Wednesday afternoon after scoring 13 points and knocking down eight free throws, all the second half, against the Bulldogs of Mississippi State Sunday.
• After averaging 15 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and a steal last week, Banks was named MVC Freshman of the Week for the second consecutive week to begin her collegiate career. Helping lead the Bruins to a 75-67 home win over Wichita State last Wednesday night, Banks scored a game-high tying 17 points, grabbed six boards and recorded a game-best five assists. The Spring Hill, Tennessee (Middle Tennessee Chirstian School), native tallied 23 points in the opener at Missouri, the fourth-most by any true freshman this season making her debut.
• Junior forward Kendal Cheesman pulled down a career-high tying 14 rebounds Wednesday against the lengthy Cardinal. In her first career start, Cheesman erupted for a career-high 28 points on 9-for-15 three-point shooting and collected nine rebounds in the convincing home win over the Lady Bulldogs of Georgia. Her nine three-pointers are the second-most by a NCAA Division I women's basketball player in a game thus far this season and were just one shy of both the single-game program and Curb Event Center record. The Tampa, Florida (H.B. Plant HS), native became the first player since at least 2009-10 to make nine threes and secure nine boards against a power conference team. For her performance, Cheesman was selected as Tennessee Sports Writers Association (TSWA) Player of the Week (Nov. 14).
• The Wildcats are the first opponent for Belmont this season who didn't have a winning record last year and reach a national postseason tournament.
• A total of 14 opponents on the Bruins' schedule had a winning record in 2022-23, while 10 adversaries won 20 or more games last season, 12 made a national postseason tournament last March and six reached the NCAA Tournament.
• Belmont faces at least eight programs this year who ended last season ranked in the top 75 of the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) with five who finished within the top 35. The Bruins ended 2022-23 ranked 84th in the NET.
• Belmont is ranked 16th in this week's CollegeInsider.com's Mid-Major Top 25^®.
• The Bruins won their sixth regular season conference championship in seven seasons last year. Belmont has captured nine regular season conference titles in the Bruins' NCAA era. Including the regular season and league tournament, Belmont has won 16 combined conference championships in three different Division I conferences (MVC, OVC and Atlantic Sun Conference).
• The Bruins are one of only 11 teams in the nation to have won 20 or more games for eight-straight seasons.
• Belmont (11) is one of only three programs to have won more than 10 combined conference championships (regular season and tournament) over the last seven seasons. UConn (14) and Florida Gulf Coast (12) are the other two.
• Belmont is the only school in the nation to win 20-plus games for eight consecutive seasons in both women's and men's basketball.
• The Bruins have either been ranked or received votes in at least one of the two major national polls each of the last eight seasons.
• Belmont has won the 17th-most games in NCAA Division I women's basketball history (1,059).

 
Under Coach Brooks

• In his seventh season at the helm, head coach Bart Brooks was named to the preseason watch list for the 2024 Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award presented by Her Hoop Stats. Since his arrival in Nashville, he has led the Bruins to a 148-49 (.751) record, four NCAA Tournaments and back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 in 2021 and 2022. The third-fastest head coach to 100 career victories in Division I women's basketball history, Brooks owns an astounding record of 111-14 (.888) against conference opponents, including conference tournament games. He ranks among the top 10 of active Division I head coaches in terms of winning percentage.

 
MVC Preseason Poll

• Belmont was picked fourth in the MVC but gained one first-place vote in the preseason predicted order of finish after capturing a regular season championship in the Bruins' first year in the conference in 2022-23. Going 23-12 overall and 17-3 in the Valley, Belmont reached its third-straight conference tournament title game and made its 10th national postseason tournament in 11 seasons with an at-large bid to the WNIT.

 
Bruins in MTEs

• The Bruins are back in Las Vegas after defeating receiving-votes Gonzaga and Florida Gulf Coast at the 2017 Play4Kay Showcase, which was held at Michelob ULTRA Arena - Mandalay Bay, in coach Brooks' first year.
• For the second-straight year Belmont is competing in a prestigious MTE (multi-team event) as the Bruins played in the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Florida, last November where they took on top-25 ranked Villanova, Sait Louis and Atlantic Coast Conference member Georgia Tech.
• Under Brooks, Belmont is 3-6 in MTEs.

 
Belmont at Neutral Sites

• The Bruins are 19-12 (.613) in neutral-site games under Brooks' leadership.
• Belmont has gone 10-6 in neutral-site affairs since the 2020-21 season.

 
Against the B1G

• The Bruins are 2-15 all-time versus current Big Ten members with victories over Indiana and Nebraska.
• Belmont defeated the Hoosiers 58-54 on Dec. 4, 2012, in Indiana. During the postseason of the Bruins' 1975-76 campaign, Belmont toppled the Huskers 77-52 in the 1976 National Women's Invitational Tournament (NWIT).
• The Bruins' last matchup with a Big Ten opponent was last November when Belmont traveled to fourth-ranked and eventual national runner-up Iowa.

 
Versus Northwestern

• Friday night will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

 
About the Wildcats

• Led by 16th-year head coach Joe McKeown, Northwestern is only four seasons removed from reaching the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 as a No. 7 seed.
• The Wildcats (3-2) were defeated 90-52 by 13th-ranked Florida State Wednesday in their first game of the Ball Dawgs Classic. Northwestern has also suffered a lopsided 110-52 road loss at 16th-ranked Notre Dame.
• The Wildcats' three wins on the season have come at home against fellow MVC member the University of Illinois Chicago (92-86, OT), the University of Nebraska Omaha (87-69) and Southeast Missouri State (76-68).
• Northwestern finished last in the Big Ten a year ago with a 2-16 conference record. The Wildcats went 9-21 overall and lost eight of their final nine games of the season.
• Junior 5-foot-11 guard Melannie Daley began the season with back-to-back games scoring over 20 points and leads Northwestern with 15.6 points per contest.
• Both junior 6-foot-3 forward Caileigh Walsh (12.8 PPG) and junior 5-foot-11 guard Hailey Weaver (12.6 PPG) are averaging over 12 points per game.
• Senior 6-foot-1 forward Paige Mott leads the Wildcats in rebounding (9.0 RPG) and is averaging 8.8 points per outing, while sophomore 5-foot-9 guard Caroline Lau is averaging an impressive 9.6 assists to go along with 8.0 points per game.

 
Up Next
The Bruins remain away from the Music City and travel to Troy, Alabama, next Wednesday to take on the Trojans. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. from Trojan Arena. The non-conference tilt will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
How to Follow
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.