Belmont Faces Minnesota in WBIT Championship Wednesday at Historic Hinkle Fieldhouse

 
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – For the first time in Belmont University women's basketball's 57-year history, the Bruins will be playing for a national postseason championship. Belmont takes on the Big Ten Conference's Minnesota in the 2025 Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) title game Wednesday inside historic Hinkle Fieldhouse. Tipoff from Indianapolis is set for 5 p.m. CT/6 p.m. ET.
 
The national postseason championship game will be aired nationally on ESPN2 and streamed on ESPN+ with Krista Blunk (play-by-play) and Anne O'Neil (analyst) on the call. Ashley ShahAhmadi will be reporting from the sideline. The NCAA-sanctioned 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 of the game can be followed by visiting BelmontBruins.com.
 
A pregame fan hangout for Bruin fans will be held at Chatham Tap, located on Butler University's campus just down the street and within walking distance of Hinkle Fieldhouse, beginning at 4 p.m.
 
What's Bruin

• Belmont defeated the BIG EAST Conference's Villanova 66-57 Monday afternoon in the WBIT semifinals. It was the Bruins' second all-time win against a BIG EAST program and first since the 1980-81 season (Xavier).
• Belmont is continuing its deepest national postseason run in any sport.
• Seeded third in the upper right quadrant of the WBIT bracket, the Bruins blew out top-seeded James Madison 90-45 in the quarterfinals last Thursday night in Harrisonburg, Virginia. It was Belmont's largest margin of victory ever in a national postseason game and largest margin of victory since the 2022-23 season.
• The Bruins hosted in the first two rounds of the WBIT, topping familiar mid-state foe Middle Tennessee 64-51 in the opening round before edging Northern Arizona 81-80 in dramatic fashion in the second round.
• Belmont overcame a 21-point deficit, including trailing by 12 with two-and-a-half minutes remaining, against the Lumberjacks in Nashville on March 23. Sophomore guard Jailyn Banks scored the game winner in the final second on a reverse layup off an inbound pass from junior guard Emily La Chapell.
• The Bruins have claimed seven national postseason wins in five years.
• Belmont is joined by UConn and Villanova as the only three programs outside the four autonomy conferences (SEC, Big Ten, ACC, Big 12) who have recorded national postseason victories in four of the last five seasons with multiple NCAA Tournament wins.
• The Bruins are 25-16 in neutral-site games and 4-2 in championship contests under the guidance of head coach Bart Brooks.
• The Bruins also received an at-large bid to the WBIT last year and won the first-ever WBIT game on March 21, 2024, with a 77-59 victory at fourth-seeded Ball State in Muncie, Indiana.
• Wednesday evening's game is Belmont's 39th of the season, the most games the Bruins have played in a season in program history.
• Belmont has never played a basketball game in the month of April.
• The Bruins had their six-game winning streak snapped by Murray State in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship game inside the Ford Center in downtown Evansville, Indiana, on selection Sunday. As the No. 3 seed, Belmont made its eighth conference tournament championship game appearance in 10 seasons.
• The Bruins have earned a national postseason bid in 12 of 13 seasons dating back to Belmont's 2012-13 campaign.
• 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 won its 1,100th game as a program with its 73-43 home shellacking of Southern Illinois on Feb. 27.
• In eight seasons, the Bruins have lost only 19 total games in February and March, including postseason play.
• 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 six 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 17 games. Only 15 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 twice this season.
• Belmont has held its opponent under 70 points in 24 of its 26 victories this season, including 16 below 60 points.
• The Bruins' strength of schedule is ranked as the 76th-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.

In the WBIT

• The Bruins are 5-1 in WBIT games. After its first-round road win over the Cardinals last March, Belmont traveled to top-seeded Penn State where the Bruins were handed a 74-66 defeat.
• The MVC led all conferences with four at-large selections into the 2025 WBIT field.

National Postseason Success

• Belmont has made six of the previous eight NCAA Tournaments, including reaching the Round of 32 back-to-back years in 2022 (win vs. Oregon in Knoxville, Tennessee) and 2021 (win vs. Gonzaga in San Marcos, Texas).
• The Bruins also participated in the 2023, 2014 and 2006 WNIT and competed in the 2013 Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI).

Last Time Out

• Outscoring the Wildcats 33-19 across the last 17 minutes of play, Belmont used a 37-26 second half and tremendous defensive play to advance to the WBIT championship game.
• The Bruins held Villanova to 34.3 percent (24-of-70) shooting, including 20.7 percent (6-of-29) from beyond the arc. In the second half, Belmont was even more effective defensively as the Bruins limited the Wildcats to under 30 percent shooting and 1-for-13 from outside.
• Sophomore guard Jailyn Banks had a career afternoon, scoring a career-high 25 points on 9-for-11 shooting at the free-throw line, while senior forward Kendal Cheesman posted her team-best 11th double-double of the season with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
• Banks and graduate guard Kendall Holmes combined for 25 of Belmont's 37 second-half points.

Minnesota Connections

• Ninth-year assistant coach Amy Malo is a native of Fairmont, Minnesota, which is a little over two hours from the University of Minnesota. She was named Minnesota Gatorade Player of the Year as a high school senior and went on to play at Vanderbilt in Nashville.
• The Bruins' first-ever NCAA Tournament game was played inside the Golden Gophers' Williams Arena. Belmont faced No. 3 seed Georgia in the first round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Indy Connection

• Former Bruin Ben Sheppard ('23), a first-round selection in the 2023 NBA Draft, is in his second season as a guard for the Indiana Pacers.

Hoosier State Great

• Darby Maggard ('19), one of the greatest players ever in NCAA basketball history, grew up two hours from Hinkle Fieldhouse in Larwill, Indiana (Canterbury HS). Belmont's all-time leader in three-pointers (430), three-point percentage (.431) and free-throw percentage (.924), Maggard was the first player in NCAA history to dish out at least 650 assists and make more than 400 threes. An All-American and the Bruins' NCAA era scoring leader (2,031 points), Maggard led Belmont to four consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament.

Player Notes
 
Senior Forward Kendal Cheesman

• Third Bruin named All-MVC First Team and the second selected to an MVC All-Tournament Team.
• Averaged 12 points and 13 boards during Belmont's MVC Tournament run, collecting 39 total rebounds for the second-most in MVC Tournament history and the most across three tournament games.
• One of only three players in the nation averaging at least 12.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.5 made three-pointers per game while shooting better than 36 percent from behind the arc.
• Registered a team-best 11 double-doubles this season and earned 16 double-doubles over the last two seasons.
• Reached 1,000 career points in the second quarter of the MVC Tournament championship game against Murray State.
• Became the Bruins' 36th 1,000-point scorer with a third-quarter three in the WBIT first round win over the Blue Raiders.

Sophomore Guard Jailyn Banks

• An All-MVC Third Team selection for the second consecutive year.
• Leads the team in double-figure scoring games this season – 27 of 38 games.
• Has posted five 20-point games in 2024-25.
• Averaging a team-best 15.3 points and 3.3 assists in the WBIT.
• First two career double-doubles against Northern Iowa this season, including a near triple-double during Belmont's Jan. 18 win in Cedar Falls, Iowa – 16 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high eight assists.
• Totaled 23 points in both of the Bruins' last two non-conference games against Southeastern Conference opponents (No. 16/15 Kentucky and Mississippi State).

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.
• Has averaged 14.5 points and 2.5 steals in the WBIT.
• Shot 51.5 percent (85-of-165) from the field and a team-best 44 percent (40-of-91) from distance in MVC play.
• Among the top 30 players in the nation with 85 steals – at least four steals seven times.
• Has scored in double figures in 21 games.
• One of just 25 active players across all NCAA divisions and one of only 12 at the Division I level with 300 career steals.
• Belmont's NCAA era career steals leader (344) and second all-time in program history.
• Has made the most starts (135) in the Bruins' NCAA era.
• Her 136 games played are just four from the most ever in Belmont's NCAA era.

Graduate Guard Kendall Holmes

• A member of the MVC Scholar-Athlete Third Team.
• Scored her 1,000th career point in her hometown in the win at the University of Illinois Chicago on Feb. 9.
• Has reached double figures in 23 of 36 games played this season, including a season-high 22 points on 8-for-13 shooting in the WBIT quarterfinal road rout of the Dukes.
• Collected the Bruins' first weekly conference honor of the season by being named MVC Newcomer of the Week (Dec. 23) after her valiant 18-point effort at top-20 ranked Kentucky.

Junior Guard Emily La Chapell

• Has scored in double figures 18 times this season and leads the team in minutes (30.4 MPG).
• 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.
• Scored a career-high 26 points on a career-best 12-for-17 shooting in Belmont's decisive, 65-52 regular season victory over Middle Tennessee on Dec. 7. 

Freshman Guard Sanaa Tripp

• Has provided a huge boost off the bench, averaging 5.5 points and 3.5 boards in the first four games of the WBIT.
• Scored in double figures in road victories at Valparaiso and Indiana State and in the WBIT second round win over Northern Arizona.

Sophomore Guard Kensley Feltner

• Put together career-best performances in her first two career starts on the road to wrap up the regular season.
• Scored 17 second-half points in the triumph at Indiana State on March 6.
• Tallied a career-high 19 points on a career-best 8-for-10 shooting, including going 4-for-4 in the fourth quarter, and secured a career-high tying eight rebounds in the win at Evansville on March 8.

Graduate Guard Jacee Busick

• Sensational in the March 6 road victory over the Sycamores, scoring a career-high 18 points on a career-best 8-for-11 shooting.
• Brought down a season-high seven rebounds in the win at JMU.

Senior Forward Carmyn Harrison

• Named to the Fort Myers Tip-Off Shell Division All-Tournament Team 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.
• Scored at least 13 points in three-straight games and reached double figures in four of five outings from Nov. 14-30.

Against the B1G

• Belmont is 4-18 all-time versus current Big Ten members.
• The Bruins have faced both Michigan (Nov. 29) and Ohio State (Nov. 17) this season.
• Belmont owns wins over Big Ten programs Northwestern, Oregon, Indiana and Nebraska.
• The Bruins' last victory against a Big Ten team was Belmont's 83-61 triumph over Northwestern in Henderson, Nevada, to close out the 2023 Ball Dawgs Classic on Nov. 24, 2023.
• For their second-ever NCAA Tournament win in 2022, the Bruins defeated fifth-seeded Oregon 73-70 in double overtime in Knoxville, Tennessee.
• Belmont upended the Hoosiers 58-54 on Dec. 4, 2012, in Indiana, and claimed a 77-52 win over the Huskers during the Bruins' 1975-76 national postseason run in the 1976 National Women's Invitational Tournament (NWIT).

Versus Minnesota

• Wednesday will be the second meeting between Belmont and the Golden Gophers.
• Minnesota won the first matchup by a singular point, 75-74, on Dec. 14, 2016, in Minneapolis.
• The Bruins led by two with 2:19 to go but the Golden Gophers went on a 7-0 run and led by five in the final minute before Belmont got back within one twice in the closing 15 seconds.

How to Follow
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