Bruins Face Evansville in MVC Tournament Quarterfinals Friday Evening

 
CORALVILLE, Iowa – For the first time in postseason play, the Belmont University women's basketball team will take on the University of Evansville in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Credit Union 1 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Friday evening. The Bruins are the No. 2 seed and the Purple Aces are the No. 10 seed. Tipoff from Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa, is slated for 6 p.m.
 
The Credit Union 1 MVC Tournament quarterfinal matchup will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Scott Warmann (play-by-play) and Laura Leonard (analyst) on the call. Dr. Rich Tiner will also provide live play-by-play of the postseason action on Belmont Bruins Radio, available online. Live stats of the game can be followed by visiting BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• Belmont (20-11, 16-4 MVC) enters the postseason riding a four-game winning streak. The Bruins have strung together three four-game winning streaks this season.
• To cap the regular season, Belmont defeated the University of Illinois Chicago 78-70 in overtime on the road last Saturday afternoon.
• The Bruins clinched the No. 2 seed for the Credit Union 1 MVC Tournament with an 83-63 victory at Valparaiso last Thursday.
• Belmont has been the No. 2 seed in the MVC Tournament in three of its four years in the Valley. The Bruins were the No. 3 seed last March and reached the championship game for the second time in their first three MVC Tournaments.
• Belmont is 3-0 in MVC Tournament quarterfinal games.
• The Bruins have won their opening conference tournament game for 13-straight years.
• Having to make up its home game with Southern Illinois on Monday, March 2 due to a severe ice storm in Nashville in late January, Belmont played four games in eight days to close the regular season.
• The Bruins are 9-7 away from home in 2025-26.
• Belmont leads the Valley in three important defensive categories – field goal percentage defense (.384) (tied with Northern Iowa), turnovers forced per game (17.1) and steals per game (10.0).
• The Bruins are 14-4 in 2026.
• Belmont had its season-best six-game winning streak halted at Murray State on Jan. 18.
• The Bruins began MVC play 7-0, their best conference start since 2017-18 when Belmont completed its second consecutive undefeated season in the Ohio Valley Conference.
• With their 77-67 home win over Evansville on Dec. 17, the Bruins secured their 10th-straight conference opening triumph.
• Belmont played eight of nine games at home with two four-game homestands in December and January. The Bruins had four of their six December games in the Curb Event Center and Belmont's first four games of the new year were in the Music City.
• Junior guard Jailyn Banks, an All-MVC Second Team selection, has scored in double figures in all but three games she has played in this season (20-of-23) and co-leads the Bruins with six 20-point outings. With a free throw at the four-minute mark of the third quarter against the Racers on Jan. 31, Banks reached her 1,000th career point to become Belmont's 37th 1,000-point scorer. In both the Bruins' victory at Drake on Feb. 5 and overtime affair at Illinois State on Feb. 20, Banks scored a career-high 26 points.
• Graduate guard Tuti Jones, an All-MVC Second Team and MVC All-Defensive Team choice, broke Belmont's all-time steals record late in the third quarter in the Bruins' win at Indiana State on Jan. 15. She recorded her 405th career steal to surpass Daree Pilkinton Merritt, who had compiled 404 steals from 1988-91.
• Sophomore forward Hilary Fuller, an All-MVC Third Team pick, has registered 20 double-figure scoring games on the season and has posted at least 20 points five times in MVC play.
• Graduate guard Avery Strickland, an All-MVC Second Team and MVC All-Newcomer Team honoree, leads Belmont with 22 double-figure scoring games on the season and like Banks, has reached 20 points six times. She was named MVC Newcomer of the Week on Feb. 2 after scoring 23 points and snagging eight rebounds in the Bruins' overtime road win over the Purple Aces on Jan. 29.
• Belmont faced three top-15 ranked Southeastern Conference opponents during non-conference play. The Bruins hosted 15th-ranked Kentucky on Dec. 14 after challenging 12th-ranked Tennessee on Nov. 13 in Knoxville and sixth-ranked Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, in their season opener.
• Ninth-year program leader Bart Brooks secured his 200th career victory with Belmont's 72-66 road win at Dayton on Nov. 16. He reached the career milestone in only 270 games as a head coach.
• 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 MVC. Belmont captured a regular season championship in its first season in the Valley in 2022-23.
• 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 (Tennessee/Pittsburgh) and junior center KK Brodie (Pepperdine).

Bruins in Conference Tournaments

• Belmont has won six of its last 10 conference tournaments.
• The Bruins are 23-4 in conference tournaments since 2016 and 6-2 in their last eight conference tournament championship games.
• Coach Brooks has lost only four conference tournament games, going 17-4 with four tournament titles.

Belmont at Neutral Sites

• Belmont is 25-19 in neutral-site matchups under coach Brooks.

Last Time Out

• Last Saturday in the Windy City, Jones sunk a free throw with 22.6 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the Flames at 68 before the Bruins outscored UIC 10-2 in overtime.
• Belmont trailed 68-65 in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter before the Bruins got key plays from Jones and Brodie to even the score.
• After Belmont led by as much as nine late in the third quarter, the Flames went on an 18-6 scoring run over a four-and-a-half minute stretch to take a three-point lead a trio of times in the last five minutes of regulation.
• Brodie (6) and Banks (4) accounted for all 10 of the Bruins' points in overtime on 4-for-6 shooting.
• Belmont secured its 11th-straight 20-win season with the road victory.
• The Bruins shot 51 percent (32-of-63) from the field and assisted on 21 of their 32 made field goals, the second-most in a game this season.
• Belmont overcame a 45-30 rebounding deficit and a 22-15 fourth quarter by UIC.
• The Bruins limited the Flames to 3-for-14 shooting from behind the arc and led for nearly 27-and-a-half minutes of the contest.
• Forty-six of Belmont's 78 points came from Strickland and Banks.
• Strickland scored 24 points on a career-high 11 made baskets, while Banks poured in 22 points on 7-for-11 shooting, including going 3-for-5 from deep.
• Two Bruins scored at least 20 points for the first time since Belmont's overtime road win at Evansville on Jan. 29.
• Brodie finished with a season-high 12 points for the second consecutive game and added a season-best eight rebounds and a game-high four blocks.
• Jones dished out a season-high eight assists and came up with a game-best four steals.
• The overtime game was the Bruins' third on the road in MVC play this season.

Player of the Week

• Jones was named both MVC and Tennessee Sports Writers Association (TSWA) Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 8-14 after scoring a season-high 24 points on 6-for-11 shooting, including making 4-for-9 from outside, grabbing a season-best 10 rebounds, dishing out a team-high five assists, and coming up with a game-high three steals against top-15 ranked Kentucky on Dec. 14. She was also a perfect 8-for-8 at the free-throw line.
• Jones' 24-point outing against the nationally-ranked Wildcats was her 80th career double-figure scoring game.

1,500 Points and All-Tournament Team Honors

• Jones reached 1,500 career points with her 19-point performance versus now 11th-ranked Ohio State on Nov. 24 in Nassau, Bahamas. She is only the 11th Belmont player to reach 1,500 career points and is second in scoring in the Bruins' NCAA era (1,748 points).
• Belmont's all-time steals leader (445), Jones is also the Bruins' all-time leader in both games started (167) and games played (168).
• Across all divisions of NCAA basketball, Jones is the nation's current leader in games played and is third among active career steals leaders.
• After averaging 17.5 points on 57.9 percent (11-of-19) shooting, including going 8-for-13 (61.5 percent) from distance, 4.5 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 2.5 assists in Belmont's two games in the Bahamas, Jones was named to the 2025 Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship Goombay Division All-Tournament Team.

A Winning Program

• In their 58th season as a program, the Bruins have claimed the 15th-most victories in NCAA Division I women's basketball (1,129).
• Belmont entered 2025-26 with the 30th-best all-time winning percentage (.658).
• The Bruins are one of only seven teams in the nation to have won 20-plus games for 11-straight seasons. UConn, South Carolina, Baylor, Iowa, NC State and South Dakota State are the others.
• Belmont's 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 11 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 10 seasons. UConn (20), Florida Gulf Coast (16), South Carolina (14), South Dakota State (12) and Princeton (11) are the others.
• Since the 2015-16 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

• Including this season, Belmont has finished first or second in its conference 10 of the last 11 years.
• The Bruins have finished in the top three of their conference 14 of the last 15 seasons, including each of the last 11.
• Belmont has played in a conference tournament championship game eight of the last 10 years.
• Since the 2012-13 season, the Bruins have compiled a remarkable 205-44 (.823) record in conference play.
• Altogether, including conference tournaments, Belmont has gone 231-51 (.819) against league opponents across the last 14 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 218-79 record. His 73.4 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 145-24 (.858) in conference action with nine combined 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 162-28 (.853) 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, the Bruins are 100-21 (.826).
• 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 Belmont annually play one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation, and this season was no different.
• Six of the Bruins' 11 non-conference opponents were receiving votes in either or both the Associated Press (AP) Top 25 and USA TODAY Sports/Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Coaches Poll. Belmont took on a trio of top-15 teams, including hosting No. 15/15 Kentucky on Dec. 14 after traveling to both No. 6/7 Oklahoma (Nov. 3) and No. 12/12 Tennessee (Nov. 13). In addition to hosting Duke (Dec. 20), who was receiving 13 votes in the coaches poll, and receiving-votes Princeton (Dec. 6), the Bruins went up against receiving-votes Ohio State in the Bahamas (Nov. 24).
• With Oklahoma, Tennessee, Ohio State, Princeton, Kentucky and Duke, Belmont faced six NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago during its 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

• The Bruins are receiving the third-most votes (44) among teams not ranked in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll.

Versus Evansville

• Friday evening will be the 11th all-time meeting between the Bruins and the Purple Aces.
• Belmont holds an 8-2 lead in the series, but the Bruins are an unblemished 8-0 versus Evansville since joining the Valley.
• During the regular season, Belmont went 2-0 against the Purple Aces, including a 79-73 overtime triumph in Indiana at the end of January. On the heels of an 11-day break from game action due to the ice storm in Nashville, the Bruins overcame a five-point deficit with just over two minutes remaining in regulation. Banks provided the game-tying free throw with 21 seconds to go, before scoring on an and-one basket to put Belmont up for good with 1:56 left in overtime.
• In its overtime road victory, Belmont knocked down a season-high 30 free throws on a season-high 40 attempts and outrebounded Evansville 56-49. Four Bruins scored in double figures led by 20-point games from Strickland (23) and Banks (20). Jones recorded her second double-double of the season with 12 points and a season-high tying 10 rebounds.
• In the two team's first meeting this season on Dec. 17 in the Music City, Belmont topped the Purple Aces 77-67.
• The Bruins have blown out Evansville by 40-plus points twice since joining the MVC.
• In the late '90s, the Purple Aces collected two wins against Belmont in a home-and-home series.

About the Purple Aces

• Evansville (8-24, 5-15 MVC) bounced seventh-seeded UIC 76-71 Thursday evening in the first round of the MVC Tournament. The Purple Aces scored 44 second-half points in the win.
• Prior to Thursday, Evansville hadn't won an MVC Tournament game since 2017.
• The Purple Aces entered the MVC Tournament having lost four straight and seven of their last eight.
• Sophomore 5-foot-8 guard Camryn Runner, last season's MVC Freshman of the Year and an All-MVC Second Team selection this year, leads Evansville in scoring (18.0 PPG), rebounding (5.6 RPG), assists (5.4 APG) and steals (1.6 SPG).
• Freshman 6-foot guard Sydney Huber, who was named to the MVC All-Freshman Team, is averaging 8.4 points per game and is shooting 33.5 percent from beyond the arc with 65 made three-pointers on the season.

Up Next
Should Belmont emerge victorious Friday, the Bruins would play in the second semifinal game of the 2026 Credit Union 1 MVC Tournament Saturday at 4 p.m. against third-seeded Illinois State, sixth-seeded Drake or 11th-seeded Valparaiso. Saturday's MVC Tournament semifinal matchup will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
How to Follow
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