ST. LOUIS – With the 2025-26 season tipping off in just under 20 days, four Belmont University women's basketball players have been named to the Missouri Valley Conference's Players to Watch list. Graduate guards
Tuti Jones and
Avery Strickland, senior guard
Emily La Chapell and junior guard
Jailyn Banks have all been tabbed MVC Players to Watch as announced by the conference office Wednesday morning.
The Bruins' NCAA era steals leader (348), Jones is a two-time All-MVC performer who is looking to cap her remarkable Belmont career with another championship. A native of Troy, Alabama (Charles Henderson HS), Jones ranks in the top 10 in program history in assists (400) and is among the top 10 on the Bruins' NCAA scoring list (1,460 points). Belmont's NCAA era leader in games started (136), Jones is second in games played (137). Selected to the MVC All-Defensive Team the past two seasons, Jones was the 2021-22 Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year as a sophomore.
A member of the 2025 Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) All-Tournament Team, Banks is also a two-time All-MVC selection. The 2023-24 MVC Freshman of the Year averaged 15.6 points and 3.2 assists in last season's WBIT, shooting 41.2 percent from beyond the arc across the Bruins' five games and providing the game-winning layup against Northern Arizona in the second round. Hailing from Spring Hill, Tennessee (Middle Tennessee Christian School), Banks scored over 800 points in her first two seasons, averaging over 12 points per game each of the last two years.
Named to the 2023-24 MVC All-Newcomer Team and a member of the 2022-23 BIG EAST Conference All-Freshman Team while at Marquette, La Chapell scored over 300 points last season and averaged 2.5 assists. The Appleton, Wisconsin (Appleton East HS), product has scored over 500 points at Belmont over the last two seasons while distributing 130 assists and grabbing over 150 rebounds.
Jones, Banks and La Chapell are the only three Bruins to start every game last season.
Strickland is entering her first season at Belmont after spending the last two years at Tennessee and her freshman season at Pittsburgh. The Knoxville, Tennessee (Farragut HS), native played in 39 games for the Lady Volunteers and saw action in all three NCAA Tournament outings in Tennessee's run to the Sweet 16 this past March. As a true freshman, Strickland led the Panthers in made three-pointers and earned 11 starts.
The Bruins begin their impressive non-conference schedule at sixth-ranked Oklahoma on Monday, Nov. 3. Belmont begins MVC play on a Wednesday, Dec. 17 at home versus Evansville.
At least six of the Bruins' 11 non-conference opponents are receiving votes in the Associated Press (AP) Top 25 preseason poll. Belmont will take on three preseason top-10 teams, including hosting No. 7 Duke on Saturday, Dec. 20 and traveling to eighth-ranked Tennessee on Thursday, Nov. 13. The Bruins also host preseason No. 24 Kentucky on Sunday, Dec. 14, and face receiving-votes Ohio State for the third consecutive season at the 2025 Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship in Nassau, Bahamas, during Thanksgiving Week.
Belmont reached last season's MVC Tournament championship game as the No. 3 seed before going on an incredible WBIT run. One of only nine programs in the nation to have won 20-plus games for 10-straight seasons, the Bruins went 26-13 last year and played for the WBIT title after defeating BIG EAST mainstay Villanova in the semifinals inside historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Season Tickets
Season tickets, which include all Belmont women's and men's basketball home games, are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting
BelmontBruins.com/Tickets or calling 615-460-BALL. Flex pack plans for the 2025-26 season are also on sale and can be purchased
here.
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.
#ItsBruinTime
