Women's Basketball Wins Fourth Straight to Close Regular Season

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Another dominant second half, including a 28-10 fourth quarter, led the Belmont University women's basketball team to its fourth-straight win Saturday afternoon as the Bruins defeated the University of Evansville 75-48 on the road to wrap up the 2024-25 regular season. Belmont outscored the host Purple Aces (7-24, 3-17 MVC) 40-18 in the second half, limiting Evansville to only two made field goals across the last 20 minutes of play.
 
With the victory, the Bruins (20-11, 15-5 MVC) clinch a top-four seed and first-round bye in next week's Credit Union 1 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament held at the Ford Center in downtown Evansville. The complete tournament bracket with seeds and matchups will be announced by the MVC office Sunday.
 
Belmont scored 21 points off 17 turnovers by the Purple Aces inside Meeks Family Fieldhouse and held Evansville to 2-for-28 (7.1 percent) shooting in the second half. The Bruins gave up only one basket in both the third and fourth quarters, while shooting 47.1 percent (16-of-34) in the second half.
 
Running away with the game in the fourth quarter, Belmont shot 68.8 percent (11-of-16) in the period.
 
For the second consecutive game, sophomore guard Kensley Feltner put together a career-best performance. In her second career start, Feltner scored a career-high 19 points on a career-best 8-for-10 shooting and brought down a career-high tying eight rebounds. She went 4-for-4 from the field in the fourth, tallying 10 points and collecting five boards.

The Bruins owned the interior, outscoring the Purple Aces 42-8 in the paint and outrebounding Evansville 44-36.
 
Once again, Belmont got excellent bench production with 28 points from its reserves.

Never trailing, the Bruins didn't allow the Purple Aces to score until nearly four minutes in. After a cool start by both teams, Belmont took a 12-6 lead on a three-pointer from graduate guard Jacee Busick. The Bruins went up by seven on a fastbreak bucket by fellow graduate guard Tuti Jones, but Evansville trimmed Belmont's lead to three by the end of the opening quarter.
 
A three by the Purple Aces' Maggie Hartwig capped a 10-3 Evansville scoring run and evened the score at 18 less than a minute into the second quarter. However, the Bruins proceeded to go on an 11-1 run sparked by a layup from freshman forward Hilary Fuller. Feltner finished off an old-fashioned three-point play to give Belmont a 29-19 lead with 6:49 to go in the half.
 
Another three from Busick kept the Bruins comfortably ahead 32-24 with under four minutes left in the first half, but the Purple Aces once again got within a possession before the break. An 11-3 Evansville run made it a two-point affair at 32-30 with just under 45 seconds remaining in the half. An and-one layup off an offensive rebound by senior forward Kendal Cheesman with only a second to go in the half put Belmont up 35-30.
 
The Purple Aces' Camryn Runner banked in a halfcourt heave at the halftime buzzer, but it wasn't in time.
 
The Bruins shot 40.7 percent (11-of-27) in the first half and were 4-for-12 from distance.
 
Evansville went 10-for-12 at the free-throw line in the first half but was 8-for-21 (38.1 percent) from the floor.
 
After a scoreless first minute of the second half, Jones scored on a second-chance layup and Belmont used a slow-developing 8-3 run to go back up by double digits. Freshman guard Sanaa Tripp made it 45-35 with a layup with just under two minutes left in the third quarter.
 
The Bruins took a nine-point, 47-38 advantage into the fourth quarter.
 
Belmont held the Purple Aces scoreless for nearly the first five minutes of the last quarter, beginning the fourth on an impressive 18-0 run that essentially put the game away. Senior forward Carmyn Harrison began the quarter with a layup and Feltner knocked down a pair of free throws to make it 65-38 at the 5:15 mark.
 
Freshman guard Quinn Eubank gave the Bruins their largest lead of the contest at 73-42 with 1:09 remaining and fittingly, Feltner scored Belmont's last basket.
 
Evansville's lone field goal of the quarter came on a three-pointer with 5:03 left as the Purple Aces went 1-for-18 in the frame.
 
Jones and sophomore guard Jailyn Banks combined for 15 second-half points.
 
Jones finished with 13 points and five rebounds, while Banks had 10 points and came up with a career-high tying four steals. Junior guard Emily La Chapell distributed a game-high five assists and Busick scored nine off the bench on 3-for-3 shooting from beyond the arc.
 
Avery Kelley led Evansville with 14 points off the bench and the Purple Aces got 13 points from Runner. Evansville's Hartwig nearly recorded a double-double with 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

Of Note

• Reaching 20 wins for the 10th-straight season, the Bruins join elite company as one of only eight programs who have strung together 10 consecutive 20-win campaigns. UConn, South Carolina, Baylor, Iowa, NC State, South Dakota State and Florida Gulf Coast are the only other teams who can say the same.
• Belmont has gone 189-40 (.825) in conference play since the 2012-13 season.
• Over eight seasons under the direction of head coach Bart Brooks, the Bruins have gone 129-20 (.866) in conference action.
• Banks has scored in double figures in a team-best 22 of 31 games this season.

Up Next
Belmont heads back to Evansville next week for the 2025 Credit Union 1 MVC Tournament, which will be held Thursday-Sunday, March 13-16. With a top-four seed and first-round bye, the Bruins will play their quarterfinal matchup Friday. Ticket packages for the Credit Union 1 MVC Tournament are available at BelmontBruins.com/Tickets.

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.