Women's Basketball Begins MVC Play, Hosts Bradley Sunday Afternoon

 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Following a nine-day break from game action for Christmas, the Belmont University women's basketball team returns to play Sunday afternoon versus Bradley inside the Curb Event Center. Tipoff of the Missouri Valley Conference opener from the Music City is scheduled for 2 p.m.
 
The matinee holiday matchup 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, available online. Live stats can be followed by visiting BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• Belmont went 5-6 during its strenuous non-conference schedule, facing four top-20 opponents and six power conference teams.
• The Bruins ended the non-conference portion of their schedule with back-to-back battles against Southeastern Conference programs. Belmont dropped a 73-70 heartbreaker in the final second to receiving-votes Mississippi State on a neutral floor in Tupelo, Mississippi, on Saturday, Dec. 14, before being edged 84-78 at 16th-ranked Kentucky the evening of Friday, Dec. 20.
• The Bruins have held their opponent under 60 points in all five of their victories this season.
• Belmont's strength of schedule is currently ranked as the third-most difficult in the country. Only Alabama State and Southern University have played a more difficult schedule according to the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET).
• Against the Wildcats in Lexington, Kentucky, before the Christmas break, the Bruins led nationally-ranked Kentucky for nearly half the game. Belmont built a seven-point lead early, led as late as the 3:54 mark of the third quarter and was up six at halftime.
• Despite the Bruins' promising start, the top-20 Wildcats scored 51 second-half points on 62.5 percent (20-of-32) shooting. Kentucky went 8-for-15 (53.3 percent) from distance in the second half and got 20 points from All-American guard Georgia Amoore.
• Although the Wildcats had a collective size advantage, Belmont outworked Kentucky 34-32 on the glass and outscored the hosts 30-28 in the paint.
• Last Friday's contest featured eight ties and seven lead changes before the Bruins trailed by 12 with 3:25 left and 10 with 2:21 remaining. A ferocious comeback attempt thanks to an impressive 13-4 scoring run got Belmont back within three at 79-76 with 53 seconds to go, however, the Wildcats closed things out in the final 45 seconds.
• For the first time this season five different Bruins scored in double figures at Kentucky led by sophomore guard Jailyn Banks' career-high tying 23 points.
• Belmont assisted on 20 of 29 made field goals against the Wildcats and got 20 points off the bench.
• For the second consecutive outing, Banks tied her career high. All three of Banks' 23-point performances have been against SEC opponents away from home. The Spring Hill, Tennessee (Middle Tennessee Christian School), native also put up 23 points in her collegiate debut at Missouri to begin the 2023-24 season and scored 23 in the narrow loss to Mississippi State earlier this month.
• Junior guard Emily La Chapell scored a career-high 26 points on a career-best 12-for-17 shooting in the Bruins' decisive, 65-52 victory over mid-state foe Middle Tennessee on Saturday, Dec. 7.
• Both La Chapell and graduate guard Kendall Holmes have scored in double figures in eight of 11 games this season.
• Senior forward Kendal Cheesman has reached double figures in four-straight games.
• Graduate guard Jacee Busick played a season-high 17 minutes and dished out a season-high three assists at Kentucky.
• Graduate guard Tuti Jones needs only two more steals to move into second place on Belmont's all-time steals list (286). She is already the Bruins' NCAA era career steals leader.
• Six times this season Belmont has had at least four Bruins score in double figures.
• On Sunday, Nov. 17, the Bruins nearly upset top-15 ranked Ohio State inside the Curb in Nashville. Belmont was knotted up with the Buckeyes at 63 with 30 seconds remaining and held a nine-point, 59-50 lead with just over five minutes to go.
• The Bruins' season opener was at 13th-ranked Kansas State on Thursday, Nov. 7.

 Newcomer of the Week

• Following her valiant effort against the nationally-ranked Wildcats last Friday, Holmes was named MVC Newcomer of the Week this past Monday.
• Collecting Belmont's first weekly conference award of the season, Holmes scored 18 points at Kentucky on 6-for-10 shooting, including going 4-for-6 from beyond the arc.
• A native of Plainfield, Illinois (Benet Academy), Holmes sparked the Bruins' comeback attempt as she scored 11 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter on a perfect 3-for-3 shooting from distance. It was her deep wing three-pointer that got Belmont within a possession in the final minute.
• Holmes is only 122 points from reaching 1,000 for her career.

 Nothing but NET

• With the NET rankings released on a daily basis since the beginning of December, the Bruins sit at No. 47.
• Last season, Belmont finished 71st in the NET.
• All six of the Bruins' losses this season have been against teams ranked in the top 35 of the NET.
• Belmont owns the highest NET ranking in the 12-team MVC. Both Murray State at No. 53 and Northern Iowa at No. 69 are also ranked in the top 70 of the NET.
• The Braves enter the weekend ranked 207th in the NET, which is the fifth-lowest NET ranking in the Valley.

 Conference Dominance

• Since the 2012-13 season, the Bruins have compiled a remarkable 174-35 (.833) record in conference play and won 12 combined championships, including regular season and tournament titles.
• Head coach Bart Brooks is a ridiculous 114-15 (.884) in conference action over the last seven seasons and has never lost more than three league games in a single season.
• Altogether, including conference tournaments, Belmont has gone 198-41 (.828) against league opposition over the last 12 seasons.

 MVC Preseason Poll

• The Bruins were 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.
• Belmont has finished first or second in its conference each of the last nine seasons.

 Early Tests Against Some of the Nation's Best

• The Bruins 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 its season-opening visit to now No. 12/11 K-State, Belmont hosted now No. 10/9 Ohio State and traveled to No. 14/14 Duke on Thursday, Nov. 21.

 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 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.
• Belmont has won the 16th-most games of any NCAA Division I women's basketball program (1,088).
• 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 receiving the most votes of teams not ranked in the seventh 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 MVC play, the Bruins finished second in their second year in the Valley.

 Experience and Youth

• Returning starters 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 Jones, senior Cheesman and graduate transfer guards 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 11 games, Holmes is the Bruins' third-leading scorer (12.0 PPG).
• 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 177-61 (.744) and the Bruins are an astonishing 129-18 (.878) against conference opponents, including league tournament 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).
• The third-fastest head coach to 100 career victories in Division I women's basketball history, Brooks ranks among the top 20 of active Division I head coaches in terms of winning percentage.

 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. Six of Belmont's 11 non-conference opponents this year were from power conferences. 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 NET rankings.
• Additionally, Belmont takes on 12 national postseason teams from a year ago, including six who reached the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

 Bruins at Home

• The Bruins are 104-15 (.874) at home since the start of the 2015-16 season.
• Belmont has a home winning percentage of .748 (202-68) inside the Curb since the arena opened prior to the 2003-04 season.
• Under coach Brooks, the Bruins are an exceptional 80-14 (.851) 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 Bradley

• Sunday afternoon will be only the fourth all-time meeting between Belmont and Bradley. The Bruins have won each of the first three matchups by an average of 20.3 points.
• Two of the three previous meetings have taken place in Peoria, Illinois, with the lone game in Nashville being a 42-point, 89-47 shellacking by Belmont on Jan. 6 last season.
• Late in the regular season last March, the Bruins defeated the Braves 77-72 on the road.
• In last season's home rout of Bradley, Belmont went 12-for-26 from three-point range.
• Cheesman scored in double figures in both of the Bruins' wins over the Braves last season, including tallying 18 points and seven rebounds in the road victory on March 7.
• In the first contest between the two teams during Belmont's first season in the Valley, the Bruins topped Bradley 68-54 in Illinois on Feb. 5, 2023.

 About the Braves

• Led by third-year head coach Kate Popovec-Goss, the Braves went 6-5 in non-conference play.
• Bradley closed out its non-conference slate by going 1-1 at Stetson University's Hatter Classic in DeLand, Florida. The Braves defeated Bethune-Cookman 71-36 before falling to the host Hatters 66-58.
• The Braves' other non-conference victories include road wins over Chicago State (75-57) and Central Michigan (66-57) and home triumphs versus Northern Kentucky (62-57), Indiana University Indianapolis (72-47) and NAIA member University of St. Francis (Ill.) (70-32).
• Bradley was picked 11th in the MVC Preseason Poll after tying for last place in the 12-team league last season with a 2-18 MVC record. The Braves went 6-26 overall last year.
• Senior 5-foot-7 guard Soleil Barnes, a sixth-year transfer from Toledo, leads Bradley in scoring (14.5 PPG) and assists (3.4 APG).
• Senior 5-foot-10 guard/forward Kaylen Nelson is averaging 8.4 points per game, while freshman 6-foot-1 forward Ellie McDermid leads the Braves in rebounding (5.8 RPG).
• Bradley has held its first 11 opponents to an average of 55.9 points and no team has scored more than 70 points against the Braves this season.

 Up Next
Belmont embarks on its first MVC road trip of the season next week, beginning the new year at Missouri State Thursday evening before heading to Southern Illinois next Saturday. Tipoff from Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield, Missouri, is set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Both of next week's Valley road games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
Ticket Info
Season tickets are on sale 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.