Bruins Return to the Curb, Host Evansville Friday Night

 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Beginning a three-game homestand, the Belmont University women's basketball team returns to action Friday night inside the Curb Event Center against Evansville. Tipoff in the Music City is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
 
The primetime affair will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Dr. Rich Tiner (play-by-play) and former Bruin guard Jenny Roy Bream ('19) (analyst) on the call. The game can also be heard on Belmont Bruins Radio, available online. Live stats can be followed by visiting BelmontBruins.com.
 
Highly-popular Belmont-branded Hawaiian shirts will be given away to all fans in attendance at Sunday's game, while supplies last.
 
What's Bruin

• In the midst of a season-best five-game winning streak, the Bruins (11-7, 6-1 MVC) secured their first Iowa sweep since joining the Missouri Valley Conference last weekend. After earning its first-ever win at Drake (80-65) last Thursday evening, Belmont defeated Northern Iowa 74-60 last Saturday afternoon.
• The Bruins' 80 points scored against the defending MVC regular season and tournament champion Bulldogs represent the most for Belmont in a game this season.
• Belmont has held its opponent under 67 points in all 11 of its victories this season, including seven below 60 points.
• At least four Bruins have scored in double figures in 10 different games this season, including four of the last five.
• Belmont's strength of schedule is currently ranked as the 20th-most difficult in the country according to the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET).
• Facing four top-20 opponents and six power conference teams, the Bruins went 5-6 during their strenuous non-conference schedule which ranked as the third-toughest in the nation.
• Having won four straight at home, Belmont is 5-1 at the Curb this season.
• Improving to 5-4 in true road games and 6-6 away from home, the Bruins outscored the host Panthers 41-25 in the second half last weekend. After trailing for five-and-a-half minutes in the first half at Northern Iowa, Belmont was dominant across the closing 20 minutes of play while holding one of the top three-point shooting teams in the nation to 16.7 percent (3-of-18) from beyond the arc.
• The Bruins crashed the offensive glass early against the Panthers and outworked Northern Iowa 17-6 in second-chance points. Belmont posted seven offensive boards in the opening quarter alone.
• Relentless on defense, the Bruins limited the Panthers to 35.1 percent (20-of-57) shooting overall and forced 18 turnovers, which led to 17 points.
• Belmont drained a season-high 12 three-pointers at Northern Iowa on 36.4 percent (12-of-33) shooting from long range. Starting the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run, the Bruins led by as much as 18 in the final stanza. Going 6-for-15 from distance in the second half, Belmont shot 47.8 percent (11-of-23) across the last two quarters. The Bruins assisted on 14 of their 23 made field goals.
• The 14-point win over the Panthers was the largest margin of victory in the series and Belmont moved to 6-0 all-time versus Northern Iowa.
• Sophomore guard Jailyn Banks was phenomenal in last Saturday's road triumph, nearly notching a triple-double with her first career double-double. She scored 16 points, grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds and distributed a career-best eight assists, not to mention coming up with a pair of steals.
• Junior guard Emily La Chapell led all scorers in Cedar Falls, Iowa, with 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting as she went 4-for-8 from downtown. For the second consecutive game, graduate guard Tuti Jones tallied four steals and added 13 second-half points.
• The Bruins handed Drake its first MVC loss in nearly a year last week and snapped the Bulldogs' 19-game winning streak against Valley opponents. Belmont became the first MVC team to defeat Drake in Des Moines, Iowa, since Jan. 11, 2023 (UNI).
• Along with earning four steals, Jones scored a season-high 22 points on 9-for-15 shooting in the Bruins' road win over the Bulldogs. With her four takeaways at Drake, Jones reached 300 career steals. The Troy, Alabama (Charles Henderson HS), native is one of just 16 active players across all NCAA divisions and one of only seven at the Division I level with 300 steals.
• Already Belmont's NCAA era career steals leader, Jones moved into second place all-time in program history with a pair of steals in the MVC-opening home win over Bradley on Dec. 29.
• Banks tied 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). 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 13 of 18 games this season, Banks has recorded double-digit scoring in nine-straight outings.
• Graduate guard Kendall Holmes has scored in double figures in 12 of 18 games this season, while Jones has reached double figures in eight of the last nine games.
• Senior forward Kendal Cheesman registered her eighth career and third double-double of the season in the home win over the University of Illinois Chicago on Jan. 10 with a career-high tying 14 rebounds and 10 points.
• A season-best five players scored in double figures in Belmont's 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 the Bruins' decisive, 65-52 victory over mid-state foe Middle Tennessee on Dec. 7.
• On Nov. 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 52 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. 57.
• 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. 7 Kansas State, No. 8 Duke, No. 15 Ohio State, No. 19 Kentucky, No. 24 Michigan and No. 35 Mississippi State.
• The Bruins own the second-highest NET ranking in the 12-team MVC. Murray State at No. 54 leads the league, while Northern Iowa at No. 80, Missouri State at No. 82 and Drake and No. 85 are also ranked in the top 100 of the NET.
• The Purple Aces enter the weekend ranked 309th in the NET, which is the second-lowest NET ranking in the Valley.

Conference Dominance

• Since the 2012-13 season, Belmont has compiled a remarkable 180-36 (.833) record in conference play and won 12 combined championships, including regular season and tournament titles.
• Head coach Bart Brooks is a ridiculous 120-16 (.882) 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 204-42 (.829) 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. 10/8 K-State, the Bruins hosted No. 12/12 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 (1,094).
• 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 moved up a spot this week and are ranked 21st in the 11th 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 18 games, Holmes is the Bruins' second-leading scorer (11.2 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 183-62 (.747) and the Bruins are an astonishing 135-19 (.877) 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 eight 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 Evansville

• Friday night will be the seventh all-time meeting between the two teams with Belmont holding a 4-2 advantage in the series.
• Since being members of the MVC, the Bruins are a perfect 4-0 against Evansville.
• Two of the four matchups over the last two seasons have been decided by over 40 points. Belmont defeated the Purple Aces 84-40 last January in Evansville, Indiana, after a 93-53 shellacking of Evansville in Nashville on Feb. 10, 2023.
• The Purple Aces visited the Curb last March for the Bruins' senior day and Belmont cruised to an 80-55 victory. The Bruins shot nearly 50 percent from the field and outrebounded Evansville by 12 (41-29). Cheesman notched her fifth double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 boards.
• In the late 1990s, the Purple Aces topped Belmont twice in a home-and-home series.

About the Purple Aces

• Led by fourth-year head coach Robyn Scherr, Evansville (5-12) is off to a 1-5 start in MVC play.
• The Purple Aces are coming off their first conference win of the season, an 85-70 home victory over Southern Illinois last Sunday.
• Evansville has dropped MVC road games at Indiana State (90-74), Illinois State (79-55) and Bradley (45-42), and Valley home games to Missouri State (84-57) and Drake (76-54).
• Going 4-7 in non-conference action, the Purple Aces earned home wins over NAIA Indiana University Columbus (84-51), SIUE (87-74), Southeast Missouri State (70-55) and Wright State (65-63).
• Evansville is 0-8 in true road games this season and 0-10 away from home.
• The Purple Aces are making their third trip to Nashville this season after visiting Lipscomb on Nov. 23 (86-79) and receiving-votes Vanderbilt (106-40) on Dec. 14.
• Picked last in the MVC's preseason predicted order of finish, Evansville went 4-28 overall last season and 2-18 in the Valley.
• Sophomore 6-foot-1 forward Maggie Hartwig leads the Purple Aces in scoring (16.5 PPG) and rebounding (8.9 RPG).
• Freshman 5-foot-8 guard Camryn Runner, a six-time MVC Freshman of the Week selection, is averaging 16.2 points per game and leads the team in assists (3.3 APG).
• Senior 5-foot-7 guard Júlia Palomo is averaging 8.6 points and 2.7 assists per outing.
• Avery Kelley, a 5-foot-6 point guard, is the reigning MVC Freshman of the Week after scoring 18 points in back-to-back games last weekend.

Up Next
The Bruins host Indiana State Sunday afternoon at the Curb. Tipoff from the Music City is set for 2 p.m. and the MVC matchup will be broadcast on ESPN+. Next Saturday, Feb. 1, Belmont welcomes conference rival Murray State.
 
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
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.