ST. LOUIS — The Belmont University women's basketball team has been selected third in the 2026-27 Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Poll as voted upon by the league's head coaches, media members and communications directors. Announced by the Valley Tuesday morning, the Bruins earned two first-place votes.
Belmont has finished first or second in its conference 10 of the last 11 seasons.
The Bruins have finished first, second or third in the MVC since joining the conference, including capturing a regular season title in their first year in the Valley in 2022-23.
Belmont is one of only seven programs in the country to have won 10 or more conference championships, regular season and tournament combined, over the last 10 seasons — UConn (20), Florida Gulf Coast (16), South Carolina (14), Princeton (12), South Dakota State (12), Belmont (11) and Green Bay (10).
The Bruins received 375 total voting points in the preseason predicted order of finish, compared to Illinois State's 396 voting points for second place. Murray State, the two-time defending regular season and tournament champion, tops the MVC Preseason Poll with 41 first-place votes and 477 total points. Belmont sits ahead of Northern Iowa, who received a single first-place nod, Drake and the University of Illinois Chicago in the preseason poll.
Only the top six teams of the 2026-27 MVC Preseason Poll were revealed.
Last season, the Bruins finished second in the Valley with a 16-4 conference mark. Belmont went 20-12 overall in 2025-26, the Bruins' 11th-straight 20-win season. Only six other programs in the nation have also won 20-plus games for 11 consecutive seasons — UConn, South Carolina, Baylor, Iowa, NC State and South Dakota State.
Since the 2012-13 season, Belmont has gone 205-44 (.823) in conference play. Under the direction of 10th-year head coach
Bart Brooks, the Bruins are 145-24 (.858) in conference play.
Belmont has played in a conference tournament championship game eight of the last 11 years and is 23-5 in conference tournament games since 2016.
With coach Brooks at the helm, the Bruins have won nine conference championships, including five regular season crowns and four tournament titles.
Belmont has claimed seven national postseason victories over the last six seasons, including back-to-back NCAA Tournament round of 32 appearances in 2021 and 2022 and a run to the 2025 Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) championship game.
The Bruins return four letter winners from last season — junior guard
Quinn Eubank, fifth-year center
KK Brodie, sophomore forward
Leah West and sophomore guard
Kate McGinnis — and feature five newcomers, including graduate transfer guards
Kenley McCarn and
Katie Criswell and senior transfer forward
Lauren Rust. Returning sophomore guards
Tatum Woodson and
Rylie Beers, in addition to freshman guard
Chelby Jordan (Trenton, Tenn.) and freshman forward
Samiya Jones (Memphis, Tenn.), will also look to be key contributors for Belmont this season.
Coach Brooks has once again put together one of the most impressive non-conference schedules in the nation. The Bruins will see eight teams who reached national postseason play last March, including five 2026 NCAA Tournament Teams (Princeton, Tennessee, LSU, Iowa State, Vanderbilt) and 2026 WBIT champion Columbia, during their non-conference slate. Nine of Belmont's 12 non-conference opponents were ranked in the top 100 of last year's NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings, including six who were in the top 50 — LSU (No. 3), Vanderbilt (No. 7), Tennessee (No. 25), Iowa State (No. 33), Princeton (No. 37) and Columbia (No. 45).
Additionally, 11 of the Bruins' 12 non-conference opponents had a winning record in 2025-26 and seven reached at least 20 wins.
Belmont's non-conference schedule also includes a prestigious MTE (multi-team event) in the Bahamas for a second-straight year as the Bruins will take part in the 2026 Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship over Thanksgiving weekend. Held at the beautiful Grand Hyatt Baha Mar resort in Nassau, Bahamas, Belmont will take on Iowa State (Nov. 27) and Marquette (Nov. 29) in the island MTE.
The Bruins will begin their campaign at Princeton on Monday, Nov. 2 before hosting South Florida and Columbia the weekend of Nov. 6-8 as part of the Opening Statement, a new cross-conference event featuring the top teams from the MVC, the American Conference, Atlantic 10 Conference and Ivy League. The Atlantic 10's Rhode Island will also be in action at the Curb Event Center for the Opening Statement but will not face Belmont. Nashville is one of two Opening Statement sites with the A-10's Richmond serving as the other host the same weekend. Fellow MVC member Murray State will participate in the Spiders' four-team event.
MVC play begins on Tuesday, Dec. 22 for the Bruins as Belmont hosts Bradley at the Curb.
Following Christmas, the Bruins' 20-game MVC schedule continues with a trip to Illinois State on Tuesday, Dec. 29.
For the first time,
Arch Madness, one of the most recognized conference basketball championship brands in the country, will include the MVC women's tournament. The 10-team MVC Tournament will be held Wednesday-Sunday, March 3-7 at the Enterprise Center in downtown St. Louis. Four opening round games will take place on Wednesday, March 3, followed by two second-round games on Friday, March 5. The 2027 Arch Madness semifinals will be held on Saturday, March 6 and the MVC Tournament championship game is set for Sunday, March 7.
2026-27 MVC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll
First-place votes in parenthesis
1. Murray State (41) - 477 points
2. Illinois State - 396 points
3. Belmont (2) - 375 points
4. Northern Iowa (1) - 343 points
5. Drake - 317 points
6. UIC - 267 points
Season Tickets
Basketball season tickets, which include all Belmont women's and men's home games, are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting
BelmontBruins.com/Tickets.
Bruin Club memberships are also available.
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.
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