Belmont women's basketball beats MTSU to advance to the WBIT second round
Belmont women's basketball beat Middle Tennessee State for the second time this season and in the process advanced to the second round of the NCAA's Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament.
Belmont overcame a sluggish start then dominated the rest of the way enroute to a 64-51 win Thursday at the Bruins' Curb Event Center.
It was Belmont's third straight win over the Blue Raiders and sixth in the last seven meetings. The Bruins beat MTSU 65-52 on Dec. 7.
"I thought both showed up ready to play and it was some good rhythm early," Belmont coach Bart Brooks said. "I was really impressed with our ability to respond and make a defensive stand in the second quarter. We defended as well as we've defended all season in the second and the third and that's when we got our separation."
It also was Belmont's seventh win in their last eight games. The Bruins missed out on an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament when they lost to Murray State in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship game.
South Dakota transfer Kendall Holmes led a balanced Bruins scoring attack with 12 points and senior guard Tuti Jones added 11.
Belmont (23-12) will host Northern Arizona (27-7), which defeated Arizona 71-69, in the second round on Sunday (2 p.m.).
MTSU (26-9) was led by Ta'Mia Scott with 16 points and Courtney Blakley with 12.
MTSU's Jalynn Gregory got into early foul trouble
MTSU senior guard Jalynn Gregory from Lafayette picked up her third foul with 4:41 left in the second quarter. Gregory came out of the game and was replaced by freshman Savannah Davis.
Gregory had three points and two rebounds at the time.
With Gregory out of the game MTSU struggled on both ends of the floor.
"We got into a little foul trouble and had to do some changes and in that situation (Belmont) made the best of it where we didn't," MTSU coach Rick Insell said. "We were playing a couple of young ladies out of position."
Gregory was MTSU's best player in the regular season game against Belmont. She had 15 points in that game, but also had three fouls.
Gregory returned midway through the third quarter, but fouled out in the fourth with just three points on 1-of-8 shooting.
"Gregory is one of our mainstays and when she gets in foul trouble it takes away a lot of our shooting and our ball handling too," Insell said.
By the end of the third quarter MTSU was shooting only 29.2% from the field (14-of-48). The Blue Raiders finished at 32.3% (21-of-65).
Belmont shot 38.9% (21-of-54) from the field and 34.6% on 3-pointers (9-of-26).
Vanderbilt transfer scores 1,000 point at Belmont
Senior forward Kendal Cheesman scored her 1,000th career point at Belmont in the third quarter when she made a 3-pointer to put the Bruins up 38-25 lead.
Cheesman is a Vanderbilt transfer. She scored 22 points with the Commodores.
Cheesman became Belmont's 36th 1,000-point scorer. She had nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
Belmont hosts first postseason game
The game was Belmont's first time to serve as host for a national postseason game as an NCAA Division I member.
It was the Bruins' second straight year to receive an at-large bid to the WBIT. Belmont defeated Ball State 77-59 in Muncie, Indiana, in the opening round of the WBIT last season before losing to No. 1 seed Penn State 74-66 win the second round.
Belmont has now won a national postseason game in four of the last five years.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter