Bruins Host Middle Tennessee at the Curb for Saturday Matinee

 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – After nearly three weeks away from home, the Belmont University women's basketball team returns to the friendly confines of the Curb Event Center Saturday for a matinee matchup with in-state foe Middle Tennessee. Tipoff from the Music City is slated for 12 p.m.
 
The non-conference contest 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.
 
Men's basketball versus the Blue Raiders will follow with a start time scheduled for 2:30 p.m. The doubleheader is being presented by Puckett's.
 
Free Belmont-branded Christmas shirts will be given away to Belmont students in attendance and Steve Max, "Master of Simon Sez", will be performing at halftime.
 
What's Bruin

• Saturday's matchup features two of the top mid-major programs in the nation. Both the Bruins and Middle Tennessee have had recent success in the NCAA Tournament.
• Belmont's strength of schedule is currently ranked as the fourth-most difficult in the country. Only Alabama State, Notre Dame and Duke have played a more difficult schedule according to the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET).
• The Bruins (4-4) have won back-to-back games for the second time this season after defeating nearby rival Lipscomb 63-55 in the 78th Battle of the Boulevard Wednesday evening on the opposite end of Belmont Boulevard.
• Belmont won its 15th straight against the Bisons Wednesday and improved to 52-26 all-time versus Lipscomb.
• The Bruins have held their opponent under 60 points in all four of their wins this year.
• A pair of clutch, fourth-quarter three-pointers from senior forward Kendal Cheesman and late driving layups by sophomore guard Jailyn Banks and junior guard Emily La Chapell were crucial in Wednesday's victory over the Bisons.
• Belmont got out to a hot start against Lipscomb and led by as much as 14 in the first half before being outscored 32-29 in the second half. The Bruins began 8-for-16 from the field and graduate guard Kendall Holmes scored 10 of Belmont's first 19 points.
• The Bisons got within one three times in the second half Wednesday, including making it a one-point game at 56-55 with four minutes to go. The Bruins sealed the triumph with an 8-0 run to close things out as La Chapell made consecutive key defensive stops with a block and a steal.
• For the second consecutive game, four Belmont players reached double-figure scoring led by Holmes' 14 points and fellow graduate guard Tuti Jones' 13 points, five assists and two steals.
• Banks tied her career high with six assists at Lipscomb and also added a season-best six rebounds and nine points.
• The Bruins assisted on 16 of their 20 made field goals versus the Bisons down the boulevard.
• Senior forward Carmyn Harrison posted a career-high 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting and a team-best eight boards in leading Belmont to a convincing 69-59 win over Davidson College in the 2024 Elevance Health Fort Myers Tip-Off Shell Division third-place game last Saturday in the Sunshine State. After averaging 15.5 points on 76.9 percent (10-of-13) shooting, 7.0 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.5 steals during Thanksgiving week in Florida against Davidson and now 23rd-ranked Michigan, Harrison was named to the Fort Myers Tip-Off Shell Division All-Tournament Team.
• Both Holmes and La Chapell have scored in double figures in six of eight games this season.
• In their last home game on Sunday, Nov. 17, the Bruins nearly upset top-15 ranked Ohio State inside the Curb. 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.

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 No. 13/13 K-State, the Bruins hosted now No. 12/7 Ohio State and traveled to now No. 8/9 Duke on Nov. 21. Later this month on Friday, Dec. 20, Belmont heads to No. 14/16 Kentucky.

Nothing but NET

• With the first NET rankings of the 2024-25 season released Monday, the Bruins sit at No. 64.
• Last season, Belmont finished 71st in the NET.
• All four of the Bruins' losses this season have been against teams ranked in the top 20 of the NET.
• Belmont owns the third-highest NET ranking in the 12-team Missouri Valley Conference with No. 54 Murray State leading the league, followed by No. 60 Northern Iowa.
• The Blue Raiders enter the weekend ranked 52nd in the NET.

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 (1,087).
• 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 23rd in the fourth 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.

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 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 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 eight games, Holmes leads the Bruins in scoring (11.8 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, head coach Bart 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 176-59 (.749) 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. Six of Belmont's 11 non-conference opponents this year are 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 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 Middle Tennessee

• Saturday will be the 35th all-time meeting between Belmont and Middle Tennessee with the Blue Raiders holding a 19-15 lead in the series.
• Since the Bruins joined the NCAA ranks, Belmont has gone 4-4 against Middle Tennessee.
• Coach Brooks is 4-1 versus the Blue Raiders.
• For the second-straight year, the Bruins host Middle Tennessee. Belmont defeated the Blue Raiders 71-57 last December after going an efficient 13-for-24 (54.2 percent) from three-point range.
• In last season's victory over Middle Tennessee, the Bruins held the Blue Raiders to 31.6 percent (18-of-57) shooting. Jones and Cheesman combined for 30 points as the duo went a combined 10-for-17 from the field, including 8-for-13 from deep.
• The mid-state rivalry was renewed during the 2018-19 season after an 18-year hiatus.

Against Conference USA

• Belmont is 54-36 all-time versus current Conference USA members, including a dominant 75-47 win over Kennesaw State in the Bruins' home opener on Nov. 14.

About the Blue Raiders

• At 7-2, Middle Tennessee's only losses have been at Tennessee (89-75) on Nov. 12 and versus 15th-ranked Iowa State (75-59) last Saturday.
• The Blue Raiders were also in Florida last week for the Fort Myers Tip-Off, taking part in the Island Division where they topped Purdue 54-49 before falling to the Cyclones.
• Prior to this week, Middle Tennessee had been receiving votes in both national polls each week and in the preseason rankings.
• The Blue Raiders had a notable 57-47 win over Grand Canyon in their home opener on Nov. 8 and are coming off an 85-41 victory over SIUE Wednesday.
• Last season, Middle Tennessee put together an impressive 30-5 record while going unscathed in CUSA (16-0). The Blue Raiders are the two-time defending CUSA regular season and tournament champions.
• As a No. 11 seed last March, Middle Tennessee upset sixth-seeded Louisville in the 2024 NCAA Tournament First Round. Against third-seeded LSU in the second round, the Blue Raiders led as late as the third quarter.
• Middle Tennessee was picked to win the CUSA regular season title once again with nine first-place votes in the conference's preseason poll.
• Senior 6-foot-7 center Anastasiia Boldyreva, the reigning CUSA and Tennessee Sports Writers Association (TSWA) Player of the Week and last season's CUSA Defensive Player of the Year, leads the Blue Raiders in both scoring (16.2 PPG) and rebounding (8.3 RPG). She was named to the Fort Myers Tip-Off Island Division All-Tournament Team last week.
• Junior 6-foot guard Ta'Mia Scott, an All-CUSA Second Team selection last year and a member of the Preseason All-CUSA Team, is averaging 15.4 points per outing.
• Senior 5-foot-8 guard Jalynn Gregory, a returning All-CUSA Second Team performer and Preseason All-CUSA Team pick, is averaging 13.2 points per contest and has already attempted 60 three-pointers with 22 makes (.367).
• Senior 5-foot-8 guard Courtney Blakely, who transferred to Arizona for the 2023-24 season and then back to Middle Tennessee, leads the Blue Raiders in assists (3.8 APG) and is also averaging double-figure scoring (11.8 PPG).

Up Next
Belmont will have a week off from game action before heading down to the Magnolia State to take on receiving-votes Mississippi State in a neutral-site affair in Tupelo, Mississippi, next Saturday, Dec. 14. Tipoff from Cadence Bank Arena is scheduled for 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
 
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.