Women’s Basketball Begins Play in Fort Myers, Florida, Friday Afternoon Versus Michigan

 
FORT MYERS, Fla. – For the third consecutive game, the Belmont University women's basketball team will face a power conference opponent as the Bruins take on the University of Michigan Friday afternoon to begin play at the 2024 Elevance Health Fort Myers Tip-Off in the Sunshine State. Tipoff from Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers, Florida, is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT/2 p.m. ET.
 
Friday's neutral-site matchup will be broadcast nationally on the Women's Sports Network, available on a variety of TV apps and online, with Ryan Urquhart (play-by-play) and Chloe Marotta (analyst) on the call. Marotta, a former All-BIG EAST First Team forward, was a teammate of Belmont junior guard Emily La Chapell at Marquette during the 2022-23 season. The Thanksgiving week contest can also be heard on Belmont Bruins Radio, available online, with Dr. Rich Tiner providing live play-by-play of the action. Live stats can be followed by visiting BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• The Bruins' last two games have been against top-15 ranked opponents from the Atlantic Coast Conference and Big Ten Conference, traveling to 14th-ranked Duke and hosting 12th-ranked Ohio State.
• Last Thursday, Nov. 21 inside historic Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina, Belmont was handed a lopsided 79-47 defeat by the host Blue Devils. The Bruins could not overcome a 17-point first half and Duke's 55.2 percent (32-of-58) shooting.
• On Sunday, Nov. 17, Belmont nearly upset the Buckeyes inside the Curb Event Center in Nashville. The Bruins were knotted up with Ohio State at 63 with 30 seconds remaining and held a nine-point lead with just over five minutes to go.
• Against the Blue Devils last week, Belmont was outpaced 23-8 in the second quarter and outscored 46-20 in the paint. Duke outworked the Bruins 46-24 on the glass and got 51 of its 79 points off the bench. The Blue Devils scored 26 points off 20 Belmont turnovers.
• The Bruins did force 24 Duke turnovers and earned a season-high 14 steals, but it wasn't nearly enough against the Blue Devils in Cameron Indoor.
• Making her third-straight start, senior forward Carmyn Harrison had a strong outing last week at Duke. In addition to coming up with a career-best six steals, Harrison scored a career-high 13 points on 6-for-9 shooting and snagged five rebounds.
• La Chapell was the only other Belmont player to reach double figures against the Blue Devils, tallying 11 points.
• The Bruins' season opener was at now top-10 ranked Kansas State on Thursday, Nov. 7.

Early Tests Against Some of the Nation's Best

• Belmont went up against three teams who are ranked in the top 15 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 their season-opening visit to now No. 9/12 K-State, the Bruins hosted No. 12/12 Ohio State and traveled to No. 14/14 Duke. Later in the season on Dec. 20, Belmont heads to No. 14/16 Kentucky.

Bruins in MTEs

• The Bruins are playing in a prestigious MTE (multi-team event) over Thanksgiving week for the third consecutive year.
• Belmont returns to southwestern Florida after playing in the 2022 Gulf Coast Showcase just south of Fort Myers at Hertz Arena in Estero two years ago. At the Gulf Coast Showcase, the Bruins took on top-25 ranked Villanova, Saint Louis and ACC member Georgia Tech. Going 1-2 in the tournament, Belmont notched a 78-68 win over Saint Louis.
• Last November, the Bruins visited Las Vegas for the 2023 Ball Dawgs Classic, which was held at what is now Lee's Family Forum in Henderson, Nevada. Belmont went 1-1 in Vegas with a dominant 83-61 victory over the Big Ten's Northwestern and a competitive showing versus top-five ranked Stanford.
• The Bruins are 4-6 in MTE games and 21-13 in neutral-site matchups under head coach Bart Brooks.

A Winning Program

• Belmont is the winningest program in the state of Tennessee over the previous 10 seasons, having claimed 237 victories with a winning percentage of .731 from 2014-24.
• 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.
• The Bruins have won the 16th-most games of any NCAA Division I women's basketball program (1,085).
• 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 16th in the third 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 graduate guard Tuti Jones, senior forward Kendal Cheesman and sophomore guard Jailyn 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 Jones, Cheesman and graduate transfer guards Jacee Busick (Charlotte) and Kendall 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. Through five games, Holmes leads the Bruins in scoring (11.4 PPG) alongside La Chapell.
• Over the summer, Belmont also welcomed a trio of talented freshmen with guard Quinn Eubank (Union, Ky.), forward Hilary Fuller (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) and guard Sanaa 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 the Bruins' 72-68 victory at Troy. He has led Belmont to a remarkable record of 174-58 (.750) and the Bruins are 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, Belmont has gone 79-14 (.849).

Among the Toughest Schedules in the Nation

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

Bruins at Home

• The Bruins are 103-15 (.873) at home since the start of the 2015-16 season.
• Belmont has a home winning percentage of .747 (201-68) inside the Curb since the arena opened prior to the 2003-04 season.
• Under coach Brooks, the Bruins are an exceptional 79-14 (.849) inside the Curb.
• In conference play, Belmont has 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.
• The Bruins went 13-2 at home last season, securing the most home wins in a single season since 2019-20.

Versus Michigan

• Friday afternoon will be the third all-time meeting between Belmont and the Wolverines.
• Both previous matchups have also been held at neutral sites during Thanksgiving week tournaments.
• On Nov. 25, 2007, Michigan topped the Bruins 80-43 down the street from Belmont inside Memorial Gymnasium as part of the Vanderbilt Thanksgiving Tournament in Nashville.
• The following season on Nov. 28, 2008, the Wolverines edged the Bruins 64-60 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, as part of Southern Miss' Lady Eagle Classic.

Against the B1G

• Belmont is 4-17 all-time versus current Big Ten members.
• The Bruins' last game against a Big Ten opponent was Belmont's 67-63 home loss to now 11th-ranked Ohio State less than two weeks ago.
• The Bruins own wins over Northwestern, Oregon, Indiana and Nebraska.
• For its second-ever NCAA Tournament win in 2022, Belmont defeated fifth-seeded Oregon 73-70 in double overtime in Knoxville, Tennessee.
• The Bruins upended the Hoosiers 58-54 on Dec. 4, 2012, in Indiana, and claimed a 77-52 win over the Huskers during Belmont's 1975-76 national postseason run in the 1976 National Women's Invitational Tournament (NWIT).

About the Wolverines

• Michigan is off to a 5-1 start with home wins over Lehigh (86-55), Central Michigan (99-62), Oakland (88-42), Long Island University (96-31) and Long Beach State (111-56).
• The Wolverines' lone loss thus far this season was a neutral-site affair with then top-ranked South Carolina in Las Vegas. On opening day on Nov. 4, Michigan led the Gamecocks at halftime before ultimately falling, 68-62.
• Head coach Kim Barnes Arico, who's in her 13th season guiding the Wolverines, has led Michigan to at least 20 wins in 11 of the last 12 seasons, seven NCAA Tournament appearances, an Elite Eight appearance (2022), consecutive Sweet 16 appearances (2022 and 2021) and the 2017 WNIT Championship.
• The Wolverines are receiving 51 votes as the defacto 26th-ranked team in the AP Top 25 and Michigan is also receiving a pair of votes in the national coaches poll.
• Last season, the Wolverines were a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament where they were ousted by eighth-seeded Kansas in the opening round.
• Michigan went 20-14 overall and 9-9 in the Big Ten in 2023-24.
• Through six games, 6-foot freshman guard Syla Swords leads the Wolverines in scoring (18.7 PPG) and rebounding (7.8 RPG).
• Fellow freshman guard Olivia Olson (6-foot-1) is averaging 15.8 points per outing, while senior 6-foot-3 guard Jordan Hobbs is averaging 13.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per contest.
• Freshman 5-foot-10 guard Mila Holloway leads Michigan in assists (4.8 APG) and is averaging 10.3 points per game.

Up Next
The Bruins will face either the ACC's Virginia Tech or Davidson College in the Shell Division of the Fort Myers Tip-Off Saturday. With a win Friday, Belmont will advance to the Shell Division championship game, which will tip off Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT/7:30 p.m. ET. With a loss Friday, the Bruins will play in the Shell Division third-place game Saturday at 4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET.
 
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.