Women's Hoops Closes Out Home Weekend with Valpo Sunday Afternoon

 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Wrapping up a snow-laden weekend in the Music City, the Belmont University women's basketball team hosts Valparaiso University Sunday afternoon inside the Curb Event Center. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.
 
The matinee Missouri Valley Conference matchup will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Dr. Rich Tiner (play-by-play) and former Bruin forward Ellie Harmeyer Strutz ('20) (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.
 
Clear Belmont-branded pouches will be given away to fans in attendance Sunday while supplies last and the Bruins will be available for postgame autographs in the Maddox Grand Atrium.
 
What's Bruin

• Belmont (8-7, 3-1 MVC) is fresh off a dominant 67-52 victory over the University of Illinois Chicago Friday afternoon at the Curb.
• The Bruins have won each of their last three home games, including a 69-61 triumph versus Bradley to begin MVC play on Dec. 29.
• Facing four top-20 opponents and six power conference teams, Belmont went 5-6 during its strenuous non-conference schedule.
• The Bruins have held their opponent under 67 points in all eight of their victories this season.
• Belmont's strength of schedule is currently ranked as the eighth-most difficult in the country. Only Purdue, Notre Dame, Duke, Southern University, South Caroline, Alabama State and NC State have played a more difficult schedule to date according to the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET).
• Improving to 4-1 at home this season, the Bruins torched the visiting Flames in the first half Friday. Belmont scored 43 first-half points and built a 31-point lead in the third quarter. The Bruins led 43-18 at the break thanks in large part to a 26-point second quarter where Belmont shot a blistering 68.8 percent (11-of-16), including going 4-for-5 from distance. The 26 points tied for the most the Bruins have scored in a quarter this season.
• Belmont held UIC to 37 percent (20-of-54) shooting while knocking down 10 three-pointers, assisting on 18 of 26 made field goals and earning a plus-17 margin on the glass. The Bruins led for all but the scoreless first 40 seconds and scored 17 points off a season-high tying 15 offensive boards.
• Four different Belmont players distributed at least three assists in the win over the Flames and four Bruins scored in double figures.
• Senior forward Kendal Cheesman recorded her eighth career and third double-double of the season Friday with a career-high tying 14 rebounds and 10 points.
• Junior guard Emily La Chapell scored a game-high tying 17 points on 7-for-13 shooting, including going a perfect 3-for-3 from deep, and dished out four assists against UIC. Graduate guard Tuti Jones also tallied four assists in the win and poured in 14 points on 5-for-8 shooting.
• Cheesman (10) and La Chapell (9) combined for 19 of Belmont's 26 second-quarter points on Friday, going a combined 8-for-11 from the field and 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.
• With Friday's victory, head coach Bart Brooks won his 60th conference game at the Curb.
• After tying her career high of 23 points in both of the Bruins' last two non-conference games against Southeastern Conference opponents (No. 16/15 Kentucky and Mississippi State), sophomore guard Jailyn Banks scored eight of her 12 points in the opening quarter versus the Flames.
• All three of Banks' career-high 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.
• Already Belmont's NCAA era career steals leader with 295 takeaways, Jones moved into second place all-time in program history with a pair of steals in the MVC opening win over the visiting Braves.
• Both Banks and Jones have scored in double figures in six-straight games.
• At least four Bruins have scored in double figures eight times this season.
• Five different Belmont players scored in double figures in the Bruins' battle at 16th-ranked Kentucky on Dec. 20 to close out non-conference play.
• La Chapell scored a career-high 26 points on a career-best 12-for-17 shooting in Belmont's decisive, 65-52 win over mid-state foe Middle Tennessee on Dec. 7.
• La Chapell has reached double figures in 10 of 15 games this season.
• On 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 Nov. 7.

Newcomer of the Week

• Following her valiant effort against the nationally-ranked Wildcats in Lexington, Kentucky, graduate guard Kendall Holmes was named MVC Newcomer of the Week on Monday, Dec. 23.
• Collecting Belmont's first weekly conference award of the season, Holmes scored 18 points at top-20 ranked 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 99 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. 56.
• Last season, Belmont finished 71st in the NET.
• All seven of the Bruins' losses this season have been against teams ranked in the top 95 of the NET.
• Belmont owns the highest NET ranking in the 12-team MVC. Both Murray State at No. 61 and Northern Iowa at No. 80 are also ranked in the top 80 of the NET.
• The Beacons enter Sunday ranked 279th in the NET, which is the third-lowest NET ranking in the Valley.

Conference Dominance

• Since the 2012-13 season, the Bruins have compiled a remarkable 177-36 (.831) record in conference play and won 12 combined championships, including regular season and tournament titles.
• Coach Brooks is a ridiculous 117-16 (.880) in conference action in eight seasons and has never lost more than three league games in a single season.
• Altogether, including conference tournaments, Belmont has gone 201-42 (.827) against league opposition across 13 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. 12/10 K-State, Belmont hosted now No. 9/9 Ohio State and traveled to No. 14/14 Duke on 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 (1,091).
• 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 second-most votes (31) of teams not ranked in the ninth 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 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 15 games, Holmes is the Bruins' third-leading scorer (10.3 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 180-62 (.744) and the Bruins are an astonishing 132-19 (.874) 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 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 106-15 (.876) at home since the start of the 2015-16 season.
• Belmont has a home winning percentage of .750 (204-68) inside the Curb since the arena opened prior to the 2003-04 season.
• Under coach Brooks, the Bruins are an exceptional 82-14 (.854) inside the Curb.
• In conference play, Belmont has been even more dominant at home, going 94-12 (.887) since 2012. In seven seasons, coach Brooks has lost only six league games at the Curb with a 60-6 (.909) record.
• The Bruins went 13-2 at home last season, securing the most home wins in a single season since 2019-20.

Versus Valparaiso

• Sunday will be only the fourth all-time meeting between Belmont and Valparaiso with the Bruins winning the first three games in the series.
• Facing the Beacons only once last year, Belmont defeated Valparaiso 83-56 late last February in Indiana.
• In the Bruins' inaugural season in the MVC, Belmont clinched a regular season championship with a gritty, 70-67 road victory over the Beacons on March 4, 2023.
• The two teams' first matchup took place on Dec. 30, 2022, in Nashville where the Bruins handled Valparaiso 74-60 inside the Curb.
• Belmont shot lights out in last winter's road win over the Beacons, going 30-for-52 (57.7 percent) from the field and 10-for-23 (43.5 percent) from outside. Five Bruins reached double figures, including La Chapell (13), Jones (12) and senior forward Carmyn Harrison (10). Both Jones and Harrison handed out six assists with Jones also coming up with six steals. The six assists were Harrison's career high.

About the Beacons

• Valparaiso (5-10, 1-3 MVC) began MVC play with a 69-51 home win over Southern Illinois on Dec. 29 but has since lost three in a row. On Friday evening, the Beacons were routed 82-45 at Murray State.
• Two of Valparaiso's four non-conference wins were against non-NCAA opponents – Goshen College and Trinity Christian College. The Beacons defeated Western Michigan (67-54) at home on Dec. 4 after picking up a neutral-site victory over North Dakota (76-57) on Nov. 30.
• Valparaiso is 0-7 in true road games this season.
• The Beacons were selected eighth in the MVC's preseason predicted order of finish after going 4-16 against the Valley last season. Finishing 10th in the MVC, Valparaiso went 5-25 overall in 2023-24.
• Fifth-year 5-foot-10 guard/forward Leah Earnest, a Preseason All-MVC Second Team selection and member of last year's All-MVC Second Team, is one of two Beacons averaging double digits (17.1 PPG). She also leads Valparaiso in rebounding (7.5 RPG) and assists (2.4 APG).
• Sophomore 6-foot guard/forward Nevaeh Jackson is the other Beacon averaging double figures (13.7 PPG).

Up Next
Belmont makes its annual trek to Iowa next week, traveling first to Des Moines to face Drake on Thursday evening before heading to Cedar Falls to take on Northern Iowa next Saturday. Tipoff Thursday at the Knapp Center is scheduled for 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on The Valley on ESPN, available 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.