Belmont Hosts Mid-State Showdown Sunday Afternoon

 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In a showdown between two of the top programs in the state of Tennessee, the Belmont University women's basketball team hosts Middle Tennessee Sunday afternoon inside the Curb Event Center. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. from the Music City.
 
Sunday's non-conference tilt will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Dr. Rich Tiner (play-by-play) and former Bruin guard Hannah Harmeyer ('19) (analyst) on the call. Landen Secrest will be reporting from the sideline. The game can also be heard on Belmont Bruins Radio on iHeart Radio. Live in-game statistics will be available at BelmontBruins.com.
 
Spirit tote bags will be available for all fans in attendance while supplies last.
 
What's Bruin

• Returning home following a three-game stretch away from Nashville, Belmont (4-3) is seeking its third-straight victory.
• The Bruins defeated Troy 72-68 in Alabama Wednesday evening behind junior guard Kilyn McGuff's first career double-double of 18 points and a career-best 10 rebounds. Overcoming 15 missed free throws, Belmont held the Trojans to 36 percent shooting and raced out to a 22-8 lead before closing the game with key free throws from redshirt junior guard Tuti Jones, junior forward Tessa Miller and freshman guard Jailyn Banks. Outscoring Troy 40-32 in the paint and 17-10 on second chances, the Bruins put up 40 points in the first half and had four different players reach double-figure scoring.
• Both Belmont and the Lady Raiders have been two of the most impressive teams in Tennessee in recent years with both serving as NCAA Tournament regulars the last three seasons. Middle Tennessee reached the NCAA Tournament in both 2021 and 2023, while the Bruins made it to the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 in back-to-back seasons (2021 and 2022).
• Belmont went 1-1 last week in Las Vegas at the 2023 Ball Dawgs Classic held at The Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nevada. Playing in a prestigious MTE (multi-team event) for the second consecutive year, the Bruins went toe-to-toe with top-five ranked Stanford for 35 minutes in their opening game at the Ball Dawgs Classic before defeating the Big Ten Conference's Northwestern in convincing fashion, 83-61.
• Last week's win over the Wildcats was Belmont's fifth over a power conference program in four seasons. In addition to a 76-50 rout of Georgia in their home opener, the Bruins have earned victories against Oregon, Ole Miss and Auburn in recent years.
• Five of Belmont's first six games of the season were against power conference programs. The Bruins will see six total power conference teams in 2023-24.
• Belmont came within a point of defeating now 21st-ranked Mississippi State on Sunday, Nov. 19 inside the Curb. A free-throw line jumper by freshman standout guard Jailyn Banks and a putback attempt from McGuff both rimmed off in the final seconds.
• Making her hometown return Wednesday, Jones scored 13 points, grabbed eight rebounds, dished out a pair of assists and came up with a steal against the host Trojans.
• After her true junior season was cut short due to injury last year, Jones returned for the season opener at the University of Missouri and has distributed at least four assists in six of the first seven games of the season. Averaging 4.9 assists per game, Jones recorded her second career double-double against Northwestern in Las Vegas with 12 points and a career-high 10 assists. Named to the Preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference Second Team, Jones was the Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year and an All-OVC First Team selection as a sophomore in 2021-22.
• Miller has scored in double figures in each of the first seven games of the season, including tying her career high with 18 points Wednesday at Troy. She also added eight boards and a team-high tying four assists. Versus the now third-ranked Cardinal, Miller scored a career-high 18 points on 9-for-16 shooting.
• Reaching double figures in all but one game thus far, Banks earned back-to-back MVC Freshman of the Week awards to begin the season. A native of Spring Hill, Tennessee (Middle Tennessee Christian School), Banks tallied 23 points in the opener against the Tigers of Missouri, the fourth-most by any true freshman this season making her debut.
• Junior forward Kendal Cheesman pulled down a career-best 14 rebounds versus top-five ranked Stanford before scoring a game-high 21 points on 6-for-9 shooting, including 4-for-7 from outside, in the win over the Wildcats at the Ball Dawgs Classic. She also earned seven boards and had a pair of blocks against Northwestern while going 5-for-5 at the foul line. 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 tied for 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 Lady Raiders are the seventh of 14 opponents on the Bruins' schedule who had a winning record in 2022-23.
• Middle Tennessee is the fourth of 10 adversaries who won 20 or more games last year, the sixth of 12 teams who made a national postseason tournament last March and the fourth of sixth NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago.
• Including the Lady Raiders, Belmont faces 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. Middle Tennessee was one of such teams, finishing 33rd. The Bruins ended 2022-23 ranked 84th in the NET.
• For the second-straight week, Belmont is ranked 16th in 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 (1,061).

 
Under Coach Brooks

• In his seventh season at the helm, head coach Bart Brooks earned his 150th win in less than 200 career games Wednesday against the Trojans.
• Coach 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 150-49 (.754) 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 appearance in 11 seasons with an at-large bid to the WNIT.

 
Bruins at Home

• The Bruins are 91-13 (.875) at home since the start of the 2015-16 season.
• Belmont has a home winning percentage of .741 (189-66) inside the Curb since the arena was opened prior to the 2003-04 season.
• Under coach Brooks, the Bruins are an exceptional 67-12 (.848) inside the Curb.

 
Versus Middle Tennessee

• Sunday afternoon will be the 34th all-time meeting between the two programs with the Lady Raiders holding a 19-14 lead in the series.
• In the third game of the season last November, Middle Tennessee defeated Belmont 80-62 in Murfreesboro. The Bruins were held to just 20 points in the first half and gave up 47 second-half points as the Lady Raiders outscored Belmont 46-18 in the paint.
• The two teams' scheduled matchup in 2021-22 was canceled due to COVID-19 complications.
• Last season's loss to Middle Tennessee snapped a three-game winning streak in the series for the Bruins.
• Belmont earned a 70-64 road win over the Lady Raiders in early December of 2020 after defeating Middle Tennessee 68-57 on Dec. 14, 2019, in its last trip to the Curb. The Bruins also topped the Lady Raiders in an extremely low-scoring affair, 45-38, in November of 2018.
• Coach Brooks has gone 3-1 against Middle Tennessee, last year's loss representing the lone blemish against the Lady Raiders.
• For the third-straight game in the series, one of the two teams is receiving at least a vote in one of the two national polls. Middle Tennessee is receiving a vote in this week's USA Today Sports/Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Top 25 Coaches Poll. Belmont was receiving multiple votes in both top-25 polls last November when the two teams met in Murfreesboro.

 
About the Lady Raiders

• Led by 19th-year head coach Rick Insell, the Lady Raiders are off to a 6-2 start.
• Middle Tennessee is 2-0 on the road with recent victories at Houston (70-45) this past Wednesday and at SIUE (81-74) last Sunday.
• On a four-game winning streak, the Lady Raiders' only losses this season have come on a neural floor against Michigan (63-49) at the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis and at home versus now 25th-ranked Princeton (65-60).
• Last March, Middle Tennessee earned a No. 11 seed in the 2023 NCAA Tournament where the Lady Raiders took on sixth-seeded Colorado.
• Middle Tennessee is the reigning Conference USA regular season and tournament champion after going 28-5 overall in 2022-23 and finishing league play 18-2. The Lady Raiders were unanimously picked to repeat as CUSA champions this season.
• Two seasons ago, Middle Tennessee reached the semifinals of the WNIT.
• Senior 5-foot-6 guard Savannah Wheeler was named CUSA Preseason Player of the Year after earning all-conference first-team honors last season. She is one of five Lady Raiders averaging double-figure scoring through eight games, averaging 14 points and a team-best 5.3 assists per outing.
• Junior 6-foot-6 center Anastasiia Boldyreva ranks among the top 15 players in the nation in both blocks (22) and blocks per game (2.75) and leads Middle Tennessee in both scoring (15.5 PPG) and rebounding (7.5 RPG).
• Graduate 6-foot forward Courtney Whitson, a Preseason All-CUSA pick and returning All-CUSA First Team performer, is averaging 11.4 points and 6.0 rebounds, while fellow all-conference honoree Jalynn Gregory, a 5-foot-8 junior guard, is averaging 10.8 points and 3.1 assists per contest.
• Sophomore 6-foot guard Ta'Mia Scott is also averaging double digits (12.5 PPG) and 5.9 rebounds.

 
Up Next
The Bruins remain at home and host nearby rival Lipscomb Wednesday evening. Tipoff of the 77th Battle of the Boulevard is set for 5 p.m. from the Curb with the men's game versus the Bisons following. The doubleheader will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
Ticket Information
Both single game and season tickets are on sale. Season tickets are only $199 per seat and include all women's and men's basketball home games.
 
View available seating and purchase your seats.
 
Flex pack plans for the 2023-24 season area also on sale and can be purchased here.
 
For more information, call 615-460-BALL or visit BelmontBruins.com/Tickets.
 
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.