Women's Hoops Takes on Davidson Saturday at the Fort Myers Tip-Off in Florida

 
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Following three consecutive outings against power conference opponents, the Belmont University women's basketball team faces Davidson College Saturday in the third-place game of the 2024 Elevance Health Fort Myers Tip-Off Shell Division. Tipoff from Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers, Florida, is set for 4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET.
 
Saturday'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 Bruin junior guard Emily La Chapell at Marquette during the 2022-23 season. The Thanksgiving week finale 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

• Belmont (2-4) opened its Thanksgiving weekend stay in the Sunshine State with a 68-58 loss to receiving-votes Michigan Friday afternoon.
• Friday's game came on the heels of playing 14th-ranked Duke (Nov. 21) and 12th-ranked Ohio State (Nov. 17).
• The Bruins gave up 41 second-half points against the Wolverines after a tie game at halftime (27-27). Belmont led by six late in the first half and held a two-point lead with 6:57 remaining in the third quarter.
• Michigan held the Bruins to 31.7 percent (19-of-60) shooting from the field and Belmont was an uncharacteristic 5-for-31 (16.1 percent) from beyond the arc.
• For the second-straight game, the Bruins faced a large deficit on the boards with the Wolverines outworking Belmont 49-34. Michigan scored 22 second-chance points on 16 offensive rebounds.
• The Bruins forced 19 Wolverine turnovers and scored 17 points off Michigan's offensive miscues. Belmont also held the Wolverines to 33.3 percent (20-of-60) shooting, but Michigan knocked down nine triples and went 5-for-8 from three-point range in the second half.
• The Wolverines assisted on 15 of their 20 made baskets, including all 10 second-half field goals.
• A 14-3 Michigan scoring run over a five-minute span in the third quarter completely changed Friday's contest and the Wolverines sealed the deal with a 13-4 run late in the fourth quarter.
• Michigan is receiving 51 points in this week's Associated Press (AP) Top 25 and two votes in the USA Today Sports/Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Coaches Poll.
• For the second consecutive outing, senior forward Carmyn Harrison scored a career-high 13 points. She went 7-for-8 at the free-throw line versus the Wolverines and added six rebounds, two blocks, an assist and a steal.
• Graduate guard Kendall Holmes also finished with 13 points Friday as she went 3-for-6 from deep in the second half.
• On Sunday, Nov. 17, the Bruins nearly upset the Buckeyes inside the Curb Event Center in Nashville. Belmont was knotted up with Ohio State at 63 with 30 seconds remaining and held a nine-point lead with just over five minutes to go.
• The Bruins' season opener was at now top-10 ranked Kansas State on Thursday, Nov. 7.

A Sister Thing

• Freshman forward Hilary Fuller's older sister, Adelaide, was a Davidson forward for four years. From 2019-23, the older Fuller scored 709 points and collected 359 rebounds for the Wildcats.
• Hilary and Adelaide's middle sister, Audrey, is currently a senior guard at Campbell University in the Coastal Athletic Association.

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 AP Top 25 and USA Today Sports/WBCA 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 4-7 in MTE games and 21-14 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 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 six games, Holmes leads the Bruins in scoring (11.7 PPG).
• Over the summer, Belmont also welcomed a trio of talented freshmen with guard Quinn Eubank (Union, Ky.), 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 174-59 (.747) 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 is 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 power conference programs this year. Combined with their MVC slate, the Bruins face 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 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 Davidson

• Saturday will be the first-ever meeting between Belmont and Davidson.

Against the A-10

• The Bruins are 1-2 all-time against current Atlantic 10 Conference members.
• Belmont last played a current Atlantic 10 team during the 2008-09 season when the Bruins lost to Richmond on a neutral floor. The Bruins have also split games with VCU.

About the Wildcats

• The Wildcats (3-4) were routed 79-50 by Virginia Tech Friday in Fort Myers.
• Davidson's three wins this season have all come at home against Presbyterian (81-39), Wofford (74-63) and Florida Gulf Coast (57-56).
• The Wildcats have also been defeated at Wake Forest (60-55), Cincinnati (68-50) and High Point (56-53).
• Despite putting together 18 victories last season, which included a win at Duke, Davidson's 2023-24 season was cut short due to a significant number of injuries. The Wildcats had started a program-best 12-1.
• Led by eighth-year head coach Gayle Fulks, who was also named to the preseason watch list for the Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award presented by Her Hoop Stats, Davidson was picked fourth in the A-10 Preseason Poll.
• Although she has only played limited minutes in the Wildcats' last three games, junior 6-foot-2 guard Charlise Dunn is a returning A-10 All-Conference Second Team selection and was named to the A-10 Preseason Second Team.
• Freshman 5-foot-11 forward Candice Lienafa leads the Wildcats in scoring (11.1 PPG), while sophomore 5-foot-11 guard Katie Donovan is averaging 9.0 points and 5.4 rebounds per outing.
• Senior 5-foot-10 guard Issy Morgan leads Davidson in assists (3.1 APG) and is averaging 7.9 points per game.

Up Next
Next Wednesday, Belmont heads to the opposite end of Belmont Boulevard to meet up with nearby rival Lipscomb for the 78th edition of the Battle of the Boulevard. Tipoff from Allen Arena in Nashville is scheduled for 6 p.m. The rivalry game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
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.