Bruins Open 2025-26 at Sixth-Ranked Oklahoma Monday

 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – For the first time since its season opener in 2017, the Belmont University women's basketball team makes the trek to Norman, Oklahoma, to take on the sixth-ranked Sooners of the University of Oklahoma. Tipoff from the Lloyd Noble Center is slated for 4:30 p.m. late Monday afternoon.
 
The season opener will be broadcast on the SEC Network+ with Chad McKee (play-by-play) and Pooh Williamson (analyst) on the call. Dr. Rich Tiner will also have live play-by-play of the action on Belmont Bruins Radio, available online. Live stats can be followed by visiting BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• The Bruins return to the hardwood after their historic national postseason run in the 2025 Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT), where they reached the championship game. It was Belmont's deepest national postseason run in any sport.
• For the second time in four seasons, the Bruins are the preseason favorites to win the Missouri Valley Conference. Belmont captured a regular season championship in its first season in the Valley in 2022-23.
• Including last season, the Bruins have reached the MVC Tournament championship game two of the last three years.
• Belmont went 26-13 last season and 15-5 in the MVC, tying for third in the final league standings.
• The Bruins' three returning starters – graduate guard Tuti Jones, junior guard Jailyn Banks and senior guard Emily La Chapell – in addition to graduate transfer guard Avery Strickland (Tennessee/Pittsburgh), were named players to watch by the MVC.
• Jones, Banks and La Chapell were the only three players to start all 39 games for Belmont last season.
• The Bruins return eight total letter winners and feature seven newcomers, including five freshmen – guard Rylie Beers (Littleton, Colo.), guard Kate McGinnis (Kimberly, Wis.), forward Dacarra Ward (Memphis, Tenn.), forward Leah West (Greensburg, Ind.) and guard Tatum Woodson (Minnetonka, Minn.) – and two transfers – Strickland and junior center KK Brodie (Pepperdine).

A Winning Program

• Entering its 58th season as a program, Belmont has claimed the 15th-most victories in NCAA Division I women's basketball (1,109).
• The Bruins enter 2025-26 with the 30th-best all-time winning percentage (.658).
• Belmont is one of only nine teams in the nation to have won 20-plus games for 10-straight seasons. UConn, South Carolina, Baylor, Iowa, NC State, Indiana, South Dakota State and Florida Gulf Coast are the others.
• The Bruins' 73.1 winning percentage (226-83) over the last 10 seasons is the highest of any Division I women's basketball program in the state of Tennessee.
• Belmont is the only school in the nation to win 20-plus games for 10 consecutive seasons in both women's and men's basketball.

A Championship Program

• The Bruins (11) are one of only six programs in the country to have won 10 or more combined conference championships, regular season and tournament, over the last nine seasons. UConn (18), Florida Gulf Coast (16), South Carolina (13), South Dakota State (11) and Princeton (10) are the others.
• Since the 2012-13 season, Belmont has won 12 combined conference championships, including regular season and tournament titles.
• The Bruins have won 16 total conference championships – nine regular season and seven tournament titles – in Belmont's NCAA era.

National Postseason Success

• The Bruins have claimed seven national postseason wins in the last five years, including back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament round of 32 in 2021 and 2022.
• Belmont has earned a national postseason bid in 12 of the last 13 seasons, including six trips to the NCAA Tournament (2022, 2021, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016).
• The Bruins also reached the Big Dance in 2007 after winning the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.
• Belmont also participated in the last two WBITs and the 2023 WNIT.
• Playing into April for the first time in school history, the Bruins rattled off four wins in the 2025 WBIT. After taking out nearby Middle Tennessee in the opening round, Belmont overcame a 21-point deficit against Northern Arizona in the second round. The Bruins then doubled up top-seeded James Madison, who was an NCAA Tournament bubble team and receiving votes in both national polls, by 45 points on the road in the quarterfinals. In the WBIT semifinals inside historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Belmont ousted BIG EAST Conference mainstay Villanova.
• The Bruins' comeback against the Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona in the WBIT second round last March tied for the largest deficit overcome to win any NCAA postseason game in Division I women's basketball history.

Conference Dominance

• Belmont has finished in the top three of its conference in 13 of the last 14 seasons, including each of the last 10.
• The Bruins have played in a conference tournament championship game eight of the last 10 years.
• Since the 2012-13 season, Belmont has compiled a remarkable 189-40 (.825) record in conference play.
• Altogether, including conference tournaments, the Bruins have gone 215-47 (.821) against league opponents across the last 13 seasons.

Head Coach Bart Brooks

• For the third-straight year, ninth-year 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.
• In first eight seasons, coach Brooks has compiled a remarkable 198-68 record. His 74.4 winning percentage ranks among the top 20 of active head coaches in Division I women's basketball.
• No other current Division I head coach with eight seasons or fewer under their belt has won more games than coach Brooks.
• Coach Brooks is a ridiculous 129-20 (.866) in conference action with nine combined conference championships, including regular season and tournament titles. He has never lost more than five league games in any given season and has finished no worse than third across two different conferences.
• Including conference tournament games, coach Brooks is an astonishing 146-24 (.859) against conference opponents.
• Over the last eight postseasons, coach Brooks has gone 24-11 (.686).
• In the key months of February and March under coach Brooks' direction, Belmont is 92-19 (.829).
• Coach Brooks was the third-fastest head coach to 100 career victories in Division I women's basketball history (Leon Barmore, Louisiana Tech and Karl Smesko, Florida Gulf Coast).
• Coach Brooks' first game as a head coach and first game leading the Bruins was against the Sooners on Nov. 10, 2017, in Norman. It was the two teams' only other meeting.

Challenging the Nation's Best

• Coach Brooks and the Bruins annually play one of the toughest non-conference schedules and this season is no different.
• At least six of Belmont's 11 non-conference opponents are receiving votes in both the preseason Associated Press (AP) Top 25 and USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll. The Bruins take on a trio of preseason top-10 teams, including hosting No. 7/6 Duke (Dec. 20) after traveling to both No. 6/7 Oklahoma (Nov. 3) and No. 8/9 Tennessee (Nov. 13). Belmont also hosts preseason No. 24/20 Kentucky (Dec. 14).
• The Bruins face no fewer than six NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago during their non-conference slate – Oklahoma, Tennessee, Ohio State, Princeton, Kentucky and Duke. Of those, five reached at least the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament and three made it to the Sweet 16 with the Blue Devils continuing on to the Elite Eight.
• Playing in the 2025 Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship in Nassau, Bahamas, during Thanksgiving week, Belmont may also see West Virginia, who is receiving votes in both preseason national polls and reached the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament last March.

Mid-Major Rankings

• The Bruins are ranked 14th in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 preseason poll and are ninth in the SB Nation Mid-Major Madness Other Top 25 preseason rankings.

A Family Affair

• Freshman guard Rylie Beers' older sister, Raegan, is a senior All-American center at Oklahoma.
• Rylie and Raegan played one season together at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, in 2021-22.
• Rated as a 3.5-star recruit by Prospects Nation, Rylie is versatile guard with great size and strength. She earned all-state honors as a junior in 2023-24 after helping lead the Eagles to their first state title since 2021. As a senior last season, Rylie garnered Class 6A Jeffco All-League First Team honors.

Other Notables

• Former Belmont guard Paris Lawson ('19) is a broadcast and digital reporter for the reigning NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder. She is in her seventh season with OKC.

Season Openers

• The Bruins have opened with a top-25 opponent on the road in four of the last eight seasons – No. 13/13 Kansas State in 2024-25, No. 11/12 Kentucky in 2020-21, No. 17/16 NC State in 2018-19, and No. 22/21 Oklahoma in 2017-18.

Versus Oklahoma

• Monday will be only the second meeting between the two programs.
• The Sooners won the first matchup 96-73 on Nov. 10, 2017, inside the Lloyd Noble Center. Oklahoma was ranked 22nd in the AP Top 25 and 21st in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.

Against the Top 25

• Belmont is 1-36 all-time against nationally-ranked opponents in the Bruins' NCAA era.
• Belmont's lone victory over a top-25 team came in the 2021 NCAA Tournament first round when the Bruins dismissed 14th-ranked and fifth-seeded Gonzaga 64-59 in San Marcos, Texas, for their first-ever March Madness triumph.

Against the SEC

• Belmont is 21-49 all-time versus current Southeastern Conference members.
• The Bruins came within a ball bounce of upsetting 18th-ranked and fourth-seeded Tennessee (70-67) in Knoxville in the 2022 NCAA Tournament round of 32.
• Last season, Belmont faced Mississippi State in a neutral-site game and traveled to nationally-ranked Kentucky. This season, the Bruins visit Tennessee (Nov. 13) and host Kentucky (Dec. 14) after taking on the Sooners.
• Coach Brooks is 4-12 against SEC opponents with recent wins over Georgia, Ole Miss, Auburn and Vanderbilt.

About the Sooners

• Oklahoma was picked fourth in the SEC Preseason Coaches Poll and fifth in the SEC Preseason Media Poll.
• The Sooners went 27-8 last year and 11-5 in the SEC, tying for fourth in the loaded conference before reaching the Sweet 16 as a No. 3 seed. Oklahoma bowed out to eventual national champion UConn.
• Three Sooners – senior 6-foot-4 center Raegan Beers, freshman 5-foot-10 guard Aaliyah Chavez, and redshirt senior 6-foot-1 guard Payton Verhulst – were named to the Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Women's College Player of the Year Watch List.
• Four Oklahoma players – Beers (Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Award), Chavez (Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Award), Verhulst (Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year Award) and junior 5-foot-11 forward Sahara Williams (Cheryl Miller Small Forward of the Year Award) – were named to the Basketball Hall of Fame's Starting Five preseason watch lists.
• Both Beers (first team) and Verhulst (second team) were tabbed All-SEC last season.
• Beers was selected to the Preseason All-SEC First Team by both the league's media members and head coaches, while Verhulst was chosen to the coaches' Preseason All-SEC Second Team.

Up Next
Belmont hosts Brown University Friday night for its home opener. Tipoff from the Curb Event Center in the Music City is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
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.