Women’s Hoops Takes on McNeese State in the Bahamas Wednesday

 
NASSAU, Bahamas – In the 2025 Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship Goombay Division consolation game Wednesday morning, the Belmont University women's basketball team will take on McNeese State University. Tipoff from the Baha Mar Convention, Arts & Entertainment Center in Nassau, Bahamas, is set for 10 a.m. CT/11 a.m. ET.
 
The Bruins' second and final game in the Bahamas will be broadcast on FloCollege with Sam Hyman (play-by-play) and Ana Bellinghausen (analyst) on the call. A subscription to FloCollege is required. The game can also be heard on Belmont Bruins Radio, available online, with Dr. Rich Tiner providing play-by-play of the action. Live stats of the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship contest can be followed by visiting BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• Belmont (3-3) dropped its first game in the Bahamas, 68-56, to receiving-votes Ohio State midday Monday. It was the opening game of the 2025 Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship and marked the third consecutive year the Bruins had taken on the Buckeyes.
• Last Wednesday evening inside the Curb Event Center, Belmont won its second-straight game with an 80-60 rout of rival Lipscomb in the 79th Battle of the Boulevard.
• On the road the previous Sunday (Nov. 16), the Bruins picked up a 72-66 victory at Atlantic 10 Conference member Dayton.
• Belmont earned its first win of 2025-26 on Friday, Nov. 7 when the Bruins defeated Brown 83-61 in their home opener.
• Ninth-year program leader Bart Brooks secured his 200th career victory with Belmont's win over the Flyers in Dayton, Ohio, on Sunday, Nov. 16. He reached the career milestone in only 270 games as a head coach.
• Two of the Bruins' first three games were against top-15 ranked Southeastern Conference opponents on the road. Belmont took on sixth-ranked Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, in its season opener and challenged 12th-ranked Tennessee on Thursday, Nov. 13 in Knoxville.
• The Bruins went on a 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 were picked as 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 returned eight total letter winners and welcomed seven newcomers over the summer, 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).

Last Time Out

• Belmont was deadlocked with Ohio State through three quarters of play before the Buckeyes ran away with the game in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Bruins 20-8.
• After leading by as much as seven in the first half and holding a one-point, 31-30 advantage at halftime, Belmont wasn't able to make shots in the pivotal final quarter.
• The Bruins shot just 25.8 percent (8-of-31) in the second half and went 5-for-10 at the free-throw line as Ohio State outscored Belmont 38-25 across the closing 20 minutes of action. In the deciding fourth, the Bruins were 3-for-17 (17.6 percent) from the field and 1-for-4 from deep.
• Graduate guard Tuti Jones, who attempted to spark a comeback just before the midway point of the fourth, scored a season-best 19 points and added six rebounds, two assists and two steals.
• Fellow graduate guard Avery Strickland, who went 3-for-4 from outside in the first half, scored 11 points before the break.
• Sophomore forward Hilary Fuller grabbed a career-high nine rebounds and junior guard Jailyn Banks distributed a game-high five assists.
• Two of the Buckeyes' starting guards, Jaloni and Kennedy Cambridge, are younger sisters of Belmont first-year assistant coach Jo Cambridge. Jaloni scored a game-best 26 points on 9-for-16 shooting versus the Bruins, including tallying 14 points in the second half.
• Including this week, Ohio State is receiving votes in both national polls.
• It marked the first time this season neither Banks nor Fuller scored in double figures.

Bruins in MTEs

• Belmont is playing in a prestigious MTE (multi-team event) over Thanksgiving week for the fourth consecutive year.
• Last season, the Bruins participated in the 2024 Elevance Health Fort Myers Tip-Off in the Sunshine State where they defeated Davidson College (69-59) after falling to receiving-votes Michigan (68-58).
• Belmont traveled to Las Vegas in 2023 for the Ball Dawgs Classic and played in the 2022 Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Florida.
• The Bruins are 25-18 in neutral-site matchups under coach Brooks and 5-8 in MTE games.

On Foreign Land

• Belmont hadn't played in the Caribbean since December of 2013 when the Bruins took part in the Puerto Rico Classic in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• The Bruins hadn't played outside the United States, or a U.S. territory, since December of 2007 when Belmont competed in the Caribbean Classic in Cancun, Mexico.
• The Bruins did play in a pair of exhibition games in Rome, Italy, in the summer of 2023 as part of their 10-day European tour in Italy.

A Winning Program

• In its 58th season as a program, Belmont has claimed the 15th-most victories in NCAA Division I women's basketball (1,112).
• The Bruins entered 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 previous 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 has 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, 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.
• In nine seasons, coach Brooks has compiled a remarkable 201-71 record. His 73.9 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).

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.
• Six of Belmont's 11 non-conference opponents are receiving votes in either or both the Associated Press (AP) Top 25 and USA TODAY Sports/Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Coaches Poll. The Bruins take on a trio of top-25 teams, including hosting No. 16/15 Kentucky (Dec. 14) after traveling to both No. 6/6 Oklahoma (Nov. 3) and No. 12/12 Tennessee (Nov. 13). Belmont also hosts receiving-votes Princeton (Dec. 6) and Duke (Dec. 20) in December.
• With Oklahoma, Tennessee, Ohio State, Princeton, Kentucky and Duke, the Bruins face six NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago during their non-conference slate. 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.

Mid-Major Rankings

• Belmont is ranked 11th in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll and is ninth in the SB Nation Mid-Major Madness Other Top 25 rankings.

Versus McNeese State

• Wednesday will be the first-ever meeting between the Bruins and the Cowgirls.

Against the Southland

• Belmont is 12-5 all-time versus current Southland Conference members with wins over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (5-3), UTRGV (4-0) - formerly UT Pan American, Northwestern State (1-0), New Orleans (1-1) and Stephen F. Austin (1-1).

About the Cowgirls

• McNeese State (3-2) was defeated 83-63 by 21st-ranked West Virginia Monday afternoon in the second game of the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship.
• The Cowgirls own just one Division I win this season, a tightly-contested, 49-47 victory at Tarleton State on Nov. 16. McNeese State walloped both Pensacola Christian College (100-38) and LSU Alexandria (106-33) at home.
• Last season, the Cowgirls tied for ninth in the 12-team Southland after going 5-15 in conference play. McNeese State went 10-21 overall in 2024-25 and missed out on the Southland Tournament.
• Graduate 5-foot-5 guard Arianna Patton is the lone Cowgirl averaging double-figure scoring (13.0 PPG).
• Senior 6-foot forward Lexi Alexander (9.6 PPG), the 2022-23 Southland Freshman of the Year at Nicholls State, along with sophomore 5-foot-8 guard Tyreona Sibley (9.6 PPG) and freshman 5-foot-11 forward Dakota Howard (9.0 PPG) are also averaging at least 9.0 points per outing.
• Howard (5.6 RPG), Alexander (5.6 RPG) and Sibley (5.4 RPG) lead McNeese State in rebounding, while two-time Southland Defensive Player of the Year Jalencia Pierre, a senior 5-foot-5 guard, leads the team in assists (5.4 APG) and is averaging 8.8 points per game.

Up Next
The Bruins return to the states later this week and travel to Middle Tennessee next Wednesday, Dec. 3 for a night matchup with the Blue Raiders. Tipoff from the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro is slated for 6:30 p.m. The road 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.