Bruins Host Kennesaw State in Home Opener Thursday Night

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Opening up its home schedule of the 2024-25 season, the Belmont University women's basketball team hosts Kennesaw State Thursday night inside the Curb Event Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
 
Thursday's home opener will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Dr. Rich Tiner (play-by-play) and Jenny Roy Bream ('19) (analyst) on the call. Landen Secrest will be reporting from the sideline. The game can also be heard on Belmont Bruins Radio, available online. Live stats can be followed by visiting BelmontBruins.com.
 
Free "Bruin Nation" t-shirts will be given away to students in attendance.
 
What's Bruin

• The Bruins (1-1) are coming off their first win of the season, a 20-point, 75-55 triumph at Wichita State last Saturday afternoon.
• Despite trailing the host Shockers by two at the break (30-28) after being outscored 19-7 in the second quarter, Belmont put together a 47-point second half. Outpacing Wichita State 47-25 across the second 20 minutes of action, the Bruins shot 53.3 percent (16-of-30) in the second half and scored 26 points in the third quarter alone.
• For the second consecutive game to start the season, four different Belmont players reached double figures. Junior guard Emily La Chapell (17), sophomore guard Jailyn Banks (16), senior forward Kendal Cheesman (13) and graduate guard Kendall Holmes (12) paced the Bruins and Belmont held the Shockers to 27.9 percent (19-of-68) shooting.
• Senior forward Carmyn Harrison collected a career-high 11 rebounds in the win at Wichita State and Holmes tied her career high with seven boards. Cheesman made a career-high tying four blocks.
• With last weekend's victory, the Bruins improved to 2-0 all-time against the Shockers and 17-13 against current American Athletic Conference teams.
• Belmont began its new campaign at 13th-ranked Kansas State last Thursday night where the Bruins were held to 31.3 percent (21-of-67) shooting in an 82-56 season-opening loss. Going 4-for-22 from beyond the arc, including 0-for-10 from deep in the second half, Belmont was outscored 23-8 in the second quarter and got no closer than 15 in the second half. The Bruins trailed by only three (19-16) after the first quarter, but the Wildcats shot over 50 percent from the field and went 9-for-22 from outside.
• Through the first two games of the season, Belmont's trio of freshmen have played a combined 63 minutes led by guard Sanaa Tripp's 17 and 13.5-minute outings.

Early Tests Against Some of the Nation's Best

• The Bruins go up against three teams who are ranked in the top 20 of both the Associated Press (AP) Top 25 and USA Today Sports/Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Coaches Poll within the first three weeks of the season. In addition to its season-opening visit to now No. 10/11 K-State, Belmont hosts No. 12/12 Ohio State this Sunday and travels to No. 16/16 Duke next Thursday. Later in the season on Dec. 20, the Bruins head to No. 20/19 Kentucky.

Home Openers

• Belmont is going for its eighth-straight home-opening win. The Bruins are a perfect 7-0 in home openers under head coach Bart Brooks.
• Last November, the Bruins routed the Southeastern Conference's Georgia 76-50 in their 2023-24 home opener.

Bruins at Home

• Belmont is 102-14 (.879) at home since the start of the 2015-16 season.
• The Bruins have a home winning percentage of .749 (200-67) inside the Curb since the arena opened prior to the 2003-04 season.
• Under coach Brooks, Belmont is an exceptional 78-13 (.857) inside the Curb.
• In conference play, the Bruins have been even more dominant at home, going 92-12 (.885) since 2012. In seven seasons, coach Brooks has lost only six league games at the Curb with a 58-6 (.906) record.
• Belmont went 13-2 at home last season, securing the most home wins in a single season since 2019-20.

A Winning Program

• The Bruins are the winningest program in the state of Tennessee over the previous 10 seasons, having claimed 237 victories with a winning percentage of .731.
• Only nine other programs have also won 20-plus games for nine-straight seasons – UConn, Stanford, Baylor, South Carolina, Iowa, NC State, Indiana, South Dakota State and Florida Gulf Coast.
• Belmont has won the 16th-most games of any NCAA Division I women's basketball program (1,084).
• Belmont is the only school in the nation to win 20-plus games for nine consecutive seasons in both women's and men's basketball.

A Championship Program

• The Bruins (11) are one of only five teams in the nation to have won more than 10 combined conference championships, regular season and tournament, over the last eight seasons. UConn (16), Florida Gulf Coast (14), South Carolina (11) and Princeton (10) are the other four.

National Postseason Success

• Belmont has made six of the last eight NCAA Tournaments and reached the Round of 32 back-to-back years in 2022 and 2021.
• The Bruins capped their 2023-24 season by claiming their third national postseason victory in four years with a 77-59 road win at Ball State in the first-ever Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) game.

National Recognition

• Belmont has either been ranked or received votes in at least one of the two major national polls in eight of the previous nine seasons.

Mid-Major Poll

• The Bruins are ranked 15th in the first CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25^® poll of the regular season.

Last Season

• Belmont went 26-9 to secure its most wins in a season since 2018-19. Going 17-3 in Missouri Valley Conference play, the Bruins finished second in their second year in the Valley.

MVC Preseason Poll

• Belmont was picked third in the MVC Preseason Poll as voted upon by the league's head coaches, media members and communications contacts but garnered three first-place votes. The Bruins have finished first or second in their conference each of the last nine seasons.

Experience and Youth

• Returning starters Tuti Jones, Cheesman and Banks, all of whom were All-MVC Third Team selections last year and were named Preseason All-MVC Second Team, are three of eight returning letter winners for Belmont.
• The Bruins have a great mix of experience and youth in 2024-25 with fifth-year graduate guard Jones, Cheesman and graduate transfers Jacee Busick (Charlotte) and Holmes (South Dakota/DePaul) providing plenty of starting knowledge. Busick and Holmes brought in a combined 1,382 points and 150 Division I starts. In her Belmont debut at top-15 ranked K-State, Holmes scored a team-high 12 points.
• Over the summer, the Bruins also welcomed a trio of talented freshmen with guard Quinn Eubank (Union, Ky.), forward Hilary Fuller (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) and Tripp (Covington, Ga.) arriving in the Music City.

Under Coach Brooks

• In his eighth season at the helm, coach Brooks was named to the preseason watch list for the Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award presented by Her Hoop Stats for the second consecutive year.
• On Nov. 29, 2023, Brooks picked up his 150th win in less than 200 career games with Belmont's 72-68 victory at Troy. He has led the Bruins to a remarkable record of 173-56 (.755) and Belmont is an astonishing 114-15 (.884) in conference games under his leadership.
• In conference tournament games, Brooks has gone 15-3 and he is 4-1 in championship contests. In the key months of February and March under Brooks' direction, the Bruins have gone 79-14 (.849).

Among the Toughest Schedules in the Nation

• Belmont annually plays one of the best non-conference schedules in the country and this season is no different. The Bruins take on six, and possibly seven, power conference programs this year. Combined with its MVC slate, Belmont faces no fewer than 10 teams who won 20 or more games last season and has a date with nine programs who finished in the top 100 of the final 2023-24 NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings.
• Additionally, the Bruins will see no less than 12 national postseason teams from a year ago, including six who reached the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

Versus Kennesaw State

• Thursday night will be the 16th all-time meeting between the two programs.
• Belmont holds a commanding 11-4 lead in the series.
• The Bruins are 4-2 against Kennesaw State at the Curb.
• On Dec. 17 last year, Belmont defeated the Owls 65-54 in Kennesaw, Georgia. The Bruins led 35-23 at halftime and scored 20 points off 19 Kennesaw State turnovers. Cheesman notched 11 points on 3-for-4 shooting from long range and grabbed nine rebounds.

Against Conference USA

• Belmont is 53-36 all-time versus current Conference USA members.

About the Owls

• Led by fourth-year head coach Octavia Blue, the Owls are off to a 1-1 start.
• Kennesaw State topped NAIA member Life University 72-53 in its season opener last Monday before dropping a 64-61 affair to Utah Valley at home this past Saturday as part of the CUSA/Western Athletic Conference Challenge.
• Heading into their first season in the conference, the Owls were picked ninth in the 10-team CUSA Preseason Poll.
• Last year, Kennesaw State went 11-19 overall and finished eighth in the Atlantic Sun Conference with a 7-9 league record.
• Senior 5-foot-11 forward Prencis Harden was an All-ASUN Second Team performer last season and is averaging 12.0 points and 8.5 rebounds through two games.
• Senior 5-foot-9 guard Keyarah Berry scored 20 points this past weekend against Utah Valley.
• A graduate transfer from Jacksonville State, 6-foot forward Keiara Griffin is averaging a team-high 13.0 points on 71.4 percent (10-of-14) shooting through two contests.

Up Next
The Bruins welcome defending Big Ten Conference regular season champion and 12th-ranked Ohio State to the Curb Sunday afternoon. The marquee matinee matchup is set to tip off at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
Ticket Info
Season tickets are on sale now for $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 2024-25 season are 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 X, formerly 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.