Bruins Set for MVC Tournament Championship Versus Top-Seeded Murray State

 
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – For the second time in three years, the Belmont University women's basketball team will play for a Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title. The Bruins (22-11, 15-5 MVC) face top-seeded and MVC regular season co-champion Murray State (24-7, 16-4 MVC) in the 2025 Credit Union 1 MVC Tournament championship game Sunday afternoon. Tipoff from the Ford Center in downtown Evansville, Indiana, is set for 1 p.m.
 
The championship matchup will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2 with Scott Warmann (play-by-play) and Laura Leonard (analyst) on the call. The title 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

• Having won six straight, Belmont defeated second-seeded Missouri State 76-67 Saturday in the second MVC Tournament semifinal.
• The Bruins are making their eighth conference tournament championship game appearance in 10 seasons.
• Belmont is a perfect 5-0 in March.
• The Bruins have finished in the top three of their conference in 13 of the last 14 seasons, including each of the last 10 seasons.
• Belmont completed seven undefeated weeks in MVC play, including five consecutive from early January to mid-February.
• The Bruins won their 1,100th game as a program with their 73-43 home win over Southern Illinois on Feb. 27.
• In eight seasons, Belmont has lost only 18 total games in February and March, including postseason play.
• The Bruins are 12-8 away from home this season, including 3-2 in neutral-site games.
• From Jan. 4-Feb. 13, Belmont won 10 in a row.
• The Bruins have put together a 10-game winning streak in eight of the last 10 seasons and have held at least a seven-game winning streak for 10-straight seasons.
• Five or more players have reached double figures in five different games this season.
• Belmont has been one of the most balanced scoring teams in the nation in 2024-25 with at least four players reaching double figures in 15 games. Only 14 other teams in the country have also had four players score in double figures in 12 or more games this season.
• Nine of the Bruins' 12 available players have scored in double figures at least once this season.
• Belmont has held its opponent under 70 points in 21 of its 22 victories this season, including 13 below 60 points.
• The Bruins' strength of schedule is currently ranked as the 77th-most difficult in the nation according to the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET).
• Facing four top-20 opponents and six power conference teams, Belmont went 5-6 during its strenuous non-conference schedule, which ranks as the fourth-toughest in the country.
• Two of the Bruins' top-five highest-scoring games ever played in the Curb Event Center took place this year. Belmont's thrilling 96-89 win over MVC rival Murray State on Feb. 1 tied for the third-highest scoring women's game in arena history, while the Bruins' 88-83 loss to Drake on Feb. 15 was the fifth-highest scoring women's game at the Curb.
• Five players scored in double figures in Belmont's wire-to-wire battle at 16th-ranked Kentucky on Dec. 20 to close out non-conference play.
• On Nov. 17, the Bruins nearly upset top-15 ranked Ohio State inside the Curb in the Music City. Belmont was 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.

At the Ford Center

• The Bruins are 15-1 all-time inside the Ford Center and won four Ohio Valley Conference Tournament titles inside the arena (2022, 2021, 2019, 2018).
• Belmont defeated Tennessee Tech 51-29 in the 2022 OVC Tournament championship game, its last conference tournament title game in the Ford Center.

Bruins in Conference Tournaments

• The Bruins have won six of their last nine conference tournaments.
• Belmont is 23-3 in conference tournaments since 2016 and 6-1 in its last seven conference tournament championship games.
• Eighth-year head coach Bart Brooks has lost only three conference tournament games, going 17-3 with four tournament titles. He is 4-1 in conference tournament championship games.

Last Time Out

• Behind four double-figure scorers, the Bruins outscored the Lady Bears 35-25 in the second half after trailing by a point at the break. Making clutch shots late, Belmont relied on its experience and showed great composure in sinking 17 of its 19 second-half free throws (89.5 percent).

Player Notes
 
Senior Forward Kendal Cheesman

• The third Bruin to be named All-MVC First Team.
• The only player in the nation averaging over 12.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 made three-pointers per game while shooting at least 38 percent from behind the arc.
• Averaged a near double-double in MVC action with 14.2 points and 9.5 rebounds per game.
• With five double-doubles in her last nine outings, Cheesman has registered a team-best 10 double-doubles this season. She has earned 15 double-doubles over the last two seasons.
• The Tampa, Florida (H.B. Plant HS), native was named Tennessee Sports Writers Association (TSWA) Player of the Week on Feb. 26 and earned Belmont's second-straight MVC Player of the Week award on Feb. 10.
• Cheesman is only five points from reaching 1,000 for her career and is only 27 points from becoming the Bruins' 36th 1,000-point scorer.

Sophomore Guard Jailyn Banks

• An All-MVC Third Team selection for the second consecutive year, Banks leads the team in double-figure scoring games – 24 of 33 games this season.
• She has posted four 20-point games and put together her first two career double-doubles against the Panthers of Northern Iowa.
• The Spring Hill, Tennessee (Middle Tennessee Chirstian School), native nearly had a triple-double during Belmont's Jan. 18 win in Cedar Falls, Iowa, with 16 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high eight assists, before totaling a career-best 11 boards and 10 points versus the Panthers in Nashville on Feb. 13.
• In both of the Bruins' last two non-conference games against Southeastern Conference opponents (No. 16/15 Kentucky and Mississippi State), Banks tied her career high of 23 points. All three of Banks' career-high 23-point performances have been against SEC opponents away from home. She also put up 23 points in her collegiate debut at Missouri to begin the 2023-24 season.

Graduate Guard Tuti Jones

• Garnered All-MVC Third Team, MVC All-Defensive Team and MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team honors for the second-straight year.
• In MVC play, Jones shot 51.5 percent (85-of-165) from the field and a team-best 44 percent (40-of-91) from distance.
• Among the top 60 players in the nation with 73 steals, Jones has tallied at least four steals seven times and scored in double figures in 17 games.
• Named MVC Player of the Week on Feb. 3, Jones recorded a double-double in the home win over the Racers with a career-high 29 points and a season-high 10 rebounds.
• The Troy, Alabama (Charles Henderson HS), native is one of just 25 active players across all NCAA divisions and one of only 12 at the Division I level with 300 career steals. Already Belmont's NCAA era career steals leader (332), 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.
• With 130 career starts and 131 games played, Jones is just nine games and three starts from the most ever by a Bruin in Belmont's NCAA era.

Graduate Guard Kendall Holmes

• A member of the MVC Scholar-Athlete Third Team, Holmes scored her 1,000th career point in her hometown in the win at the University of Illinois Chicago on Feb. 9.
• The Chicago-area native (Plainfield, Ill.) has reached double figures in 20 of 33 games this season, including scoring a season-high 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting in the home win over Murray State to begin February.
• After her valiant effort against top-20 ranked Kentucky, Holmes collected the Bruins' first weekly conference honor of the season by being named MVC Newcomer of the Week on Dec. 23. She notched 18 points on 6-for-10 shooting, including going 4-for-6 from outside, versus the nationally-ranked Wildcats in Lexington, Kentucky.

Junior Guard Emily La Chapell

• La Chapell has scored in double figures 17 times this season.
• The Appleton, Wisconsin (Appleton East HS), native led all scorers in the road win at Northern Iowa with 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting as she went 4-for-8 from three-point range. In Belmont's decisive, 65-52 victory over mid-state foe Middle Tennessee on Dec. 7, La Chapell scored a career-high 26 points on a career-best 12-for-17 shooting.

Sophomore Guard Kensley Feltner

• In her first two career starts last week on the road, Feltner put together career-best performances. She scored 17 second-half points at Indiana State before tallying a career-high 19 points on a career-best 8-for-10 shooting at Evansville. Against the Purple Aces in the regular season finale, Feltner went 4-for-4 from the field in the fourth quarter and finished with a career-high tying eight rebounds.
• A native of Louisa, Kentucky (Lawrence County HS), Feltner has reached double figures in four games.

Freshman Guard Sanaa Tripp

• Providing a huge boost off the bench, Tripp has scored in double figures in road victories at Valparaiso and Indiana State.
• In the road win over the Beacons on Feb. 7, Tripp scored a career-high 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting. Against the Sycamores in Terre Haute, Indiana, last week, Tripp recorded 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting and grabbed a career-high seven rebounds.

Graduate Guard Jacee Busick

• Sensational in last Thursday evening's victory at Indiana State, Busick scored a career-high 18 points on a career-best 8-for-11 shooting.
• In last week's two road wins, Busick went 11-for-18 (61.1 percent) from the floor and was 5-for-6 from deep. She is 2-for-2 from beyond the arc in the MVC Tournament.

Senior Forward Carmyn Harrison

• After averaging 15.5 points on 76.9 percent (10-of-13) shooting, 7.0 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.5 steals in the Sunshine State against Davidson and receiving-votes Michigan, Harrison was named to the Fort Myers Tip-Off Shell Division All-Tournament Team.
• The Memphis, Tennessee (Hutchison School), native scored at least 13 points in three-straight games and reached double figures in four of five outings from Nov. 14-30.

 Versus Murray State

• Sunday's championship game will be the 30th all-time meeting between the Bruins and the Racers with Belmont holding a commanding 24-5 lead in the series.
• Since the two programs joined the MVC prior to the 2022-23 season, the Bruins are 4-2 versus Murray State.
• Belmont has won 19 of the last 22 matchups in the conference rivalry dating back to the 2000-01 season.
• The two teams split games during the regular season with the Racers' 83-78 win on Feb. 23 in Murray, Kentucky, snapping the Bruins' four-game winning streak in the series.
• While Sunday's matchup will be the first between the two teams in the MVC Tournament, Belmont defeated Murray State twice at the Ford Center in the OVC Tournament. The Bruins ousted the Racers 67-49 in the 2021 OVC Tournament semifinals and took out Murray State 88-64 in the 2018 OVC Tournament quarterfinals.
• Belmont went 14-1 against the Racers during the Bruins' 10-year run in the OVC.

Up Next
Sunday afternoon's winner receives the Valley's automatic bid to the Bid Dance. The 2025 NCAA Tournament selection show will be aired on ESPN at 7 p.m. CT/8 p.m. ET.
 
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.