Women's Basketball Visits MVC Leader Drake Thursday Evening

 
DES MOINES, Iowa – Embarking on its annual trip to the Hawkeye State, the Belmont University women's basketball team takes on Missouri Valley Conference leader Drake Thursday evening inside the Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
 
The MVC road matchup featuring two of the top mid-major programs in the nation will be broadcast on The Valley on ESPN, available on ESPN+, with Larry Morgan (play-by-play) and Laura Leonard (analyst) on the call. The game 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

• Riding a three-game winning streak, the Bruins (9-7, 4-1 MVC) defeated Valparaiso (67-53) and the University of Illinois Chicago (67-52) last weekend at the Curb Event Center in Nashville.
• Dominant in both home wins, Belmont never trailed in either outing and moved to 5-1 at the Curb this season.
• Facing four top-20 opponents and six power conference teams, the Bruins went 5-6 during their strenuous non-conference schedule.
• Belmont has held its opponent under 67 points in all nine of its victories this season, including seven below 70 points.
• The Bruins' strength of schedule is currently ranked as the 11th-most difficult in the country according to the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET).
• Belmont enters the weekend 4-6 away from home this season, including 3-4 in true road games and 1-1 on the road in the Valley.
• Improving to 4-0 all-time versus the Beacons, the Bruins got off to another hot start this past Sunday and led by at least seven for the duration of the afternoon. Belmont scored 25 points in the opening quarter against Valparaiso and went on an early 14-0 scoring run before closing the door with a 12-4 run in the fourth quarter. Limiting the Beacons to 33.3 percent (19-of-57) shooting, the Bruins outrebounded their adversary by 17 (45-28) for the second consecutive game.
• Led by graduate guard Kendall Holmes' game-high 18 points and sophomore guard Jailyn Banks' 16 points, Belmont shot 42.3 percent (22-of-52) in the win over Valparaiso. The Bruins assisted on 14 of their 22 made field goals and went 5-for-9 from beyond the arc in the first quarter.
• Belmont did commit 19 turnovers against the Beacons, which led to 21 of Valparaiso's 53 points, but the visitors shot no better than 40 percent in any quarter.
• For the second-straight game, four Bruins distributed at least three assists with senior forward Kendal Cheesman, graduate guard Tuti Jones, Banks and Holmes all dishing out a trio of assists in Sunday afternoon's triumph.
• Cheesman had another near double-double versus the Beacons, tallying a game-best 13 rebounds and nine points. The Tampa, Florida (H.B. Plant HS), native recorded her eighth career and third double-double of the season in last Friday's win over UIC with a career-high tying 14 boards and 10 points.
• Banks tied her career high of 23 points in both of Belmont's last two non-conference games against Southeastern Conference opponents (No. 16/15 Kentucky and Mississippi State). In fact, all three of Banks' career-high 23-point performances have been against SEC opponents away from home. A native of Spring Hill, Tennessee (Middle Tennessee Christian School), Banks also put up 23 points in her collegiate debut at Missouri to begin the 2023-24 season.
• Reaching double figures in 11 of 16 games this season, Banks has scored in double digits for seven-straight outings.
• Already the Bruins' NCAA era career steals leader with 296 takeaways, Jones moved into second place all-time in program history with a pair of steals in the MVC-opening win over Bradley on Dec. 29.
• At least four Belmont players have scored in double figures in eight different games this season.
• Five Bruins scored in double figures in Belmont's battle at 16th-ranked Kentucky on Dec. 20 to close out non-conference play.
• 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 Dec. 7.
• Both La Chapell and Holmes have reached double figures in 10 of 16 games this season.
• On No. 17, Belmont nearly upset top-15 ranked Ohio State inside the Curb in Nashville. The Bruins were 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.
• Belmont's 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, Holmes was named MVC Newcomer of the Week on Monday, Dec. 23.
• Collecting the Bruins' 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 Belmont's comeback attempt as she scored 11 of her 18 in the fourth quarter on a perfect 3-for-3 shooting from distance. It was her deep wing three-pointer that got the Bruins within a possession in the final minute.
• Holmes is only 81 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, Belmont sits at No. 59.
• Last season, the Bruins finished 71st in the NET.
• Six of Belmont's seven losses this season have been against teams ranked in the top 35 of the NET – No. 5 Kansas State, No. 10 Ohio State, No. 11 Duke, No. 17 Kentucky, No. 24 Michigan and No. 32 Mississippi State.
• The Bruins own the highest NET ranking in the 12-team MVC. Murray State at No. 65, Northern Iowa at No. 69 and Drake at No. 70 are also ranked in the top 70 of the NET.
• The Bulldogs enter Thursday with the fourth-highest NET ranking in the Valley, having risen 16 spots since the beginning of MVC play.

Conference Dominance

• Since the 2012-13 season, Belmont has compiled a remarkable 178-36 (.832) record in conference play and won 12 combined championships, including regular season and tournament titles.
• Head coach Bart Brooks is a ridiculous 118-16 (.881) in conference action in eight seasons and has never lost more than three league games in a single season.
• Altogether, including conference tournaments, the Bruins have gone 202-42 (.828) against league opposition across 13 seasons.

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.

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. 11/10 K-State, the Bruins hosted now No. 9/8 Ohio State and traveled to No. 14/14 Duke on Nov. 21.

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 (1,092).
• 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 22nd in the 10th CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25^® poll of the regular season. Drake leads the Valley in the mid-major rankings and is 15th in this week's poll.

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 16 games, Holmes is tied with La Chapell as the Bruins' second-leading scorer (10.8 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, 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 181-62 (.745) and the Bruins are an astonishing 133-19 (.875) 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 107-15 (.877) at home since the start of the 2015-16 season.
• Belmont has a home winning percentage of .751 (205-68) inside the Curb since the arena opened prior to the 2003-04 season.
• Under coach Brooks, the Bruins are an exceptional 83-14 (.856) inside the Curb.
• In conference play, Belmont has been even more dominant at home, going 95-12 (.888) since 2012. In seven seasons, coach Brooks has lost only six league games at the Curb with a 61-6 (.910) record.
• The Bruins went 13-2 at home last season, securing the most home wins in a single season since 2019-20.

Versus Drake

• Thursday evening will be only the sixth all-time meeting between Belmont and the Bulldogs with Drake holding a 4-1 lead in the series.
• The Bulldogs have won the last three matchups, including a tightly-contested 69-65 contest in Des Moines last January. In the Bruins' last visit to Drake on Jan. 19 last year, Belmont led for over 30 minutes of the game but was outscored 23-13 in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs ended the game on a 12-3 run.
• Last season's road loss at Drake snapped the Bruins' 19-game winning streak in MVC play. Belmont hadn't lost a league game in over a year.
• The Bulldogs also defeated the Bruins 77-71 in Nashville last February. Ending Belmont's nine-game home winning streak, Drake shot 51.6 percent from the field and assisted on 24 of 32 baskets.
• Cheesman scored in double figures in both of last season's bouts with the Bulldogs, including an 18-point performance in Iowa last January where she went 8-for-15 from the floor and made a trio of blocks.
• The two teams met in the 2023 MVC Tournament championship game in Moline, Illinois. As the No. 4 seed at Hoops in the Heartland, Drake upset the second-seeded Bruins 89-71.

About the Bulldogs

• Under the direction of fourth-year head coach Allison Pohlman, the Bulldogs are off to a 5-0 start in the Valley. Drake has defeated the likes of Illinois State (85-64), Bradley (67-63), Valparaiso (82-64), UIC (86-63) and Evansville (76-54) thus far in conference action.
• The Bulldogs are 5-1 at the Knapp Center this season with their lone home loss taking place on Nov. 17 versus receiving-votes Iowa (86-73).
• Drake went 6-5 in non-conference play, including nearly upsetting eighth-ranked Iowa State on the road in two-point, 80-78 loss on Nov. 24.
• Receiving 39 of 48 possible first-place votes in the MVC Preseason Poll, the Bulldogs were picked to repeat as regular season champions. Drake went 19-1 in the Valley last season before winning its second-straight MVC Tournament title and earning the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year. The Bulldogs won the 2024 Hoops in the Heartland tournament on a tip-in from senior forward Anna Miller.
• Drake was a No. 12 seed in each of the last two NCAA Tournaments but did not advance past the first round.
• The reigning Jackie Stiles MVC Player of the Year, senior 5-foot-8 guard Katie Dinnebier, has been nearly unstoppable for the Bulldogs this season and was named to the midseason watch list for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award presented by Her Hoop Stats Wednesday. Averaging 20.5 points and 7.5 assists per game, Dinnebier is the five-time reigning MVC Player of the Week.
• The two-time defending MVC Defensive Player of the Year, 6-foot-3 Miller, is averaging a near double-double of 15 points and 9.0 rebounds per contest.
• Both Dinnebier (first team) and Miller (second team) were All-MVC and MVC All-Defensive Team selections last March.
• Graduate 6-foot forward Courtney Becker is also averaging double-figure scoring (10.6 PPG).
• Drake is ranked sixth nationally in both made threes a game (10.2) and assists (18.9 APG), while the Bulldogs' average rebounding margin of 10.4 is 14th-best in the nation.

Up Next
Belmont heads to Cedar Falls, Iowa, this weekend where the Bruins will face Northern Iowa Saturday afternoon. Tipoff from the McLeod Center is set for 2 p.m. The matinee MVC road tilt will be broadcast on ESPN+. Next weekend, Jan. 24-26, Belmont hosts Evansville Friday night and Indiana State Sunday afternoon.
 
Ticket Info
Season tickets are on sale for $199 per seat and include all women's and men's basketball home games. Flex pack plans for the 2024-25 season, along with single-game tickets, are also available.
 
For more information, visit BelmontBruins.com/Tickets or call 615-460-BALL.
 
How to Follow
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