Belmont in MVC Championship Game

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MikeADore
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Belmont in MVC Championship Game

Post by MikeADore »

Game will be on ESPNU at 1 p.m. Belmont has found its footing in its first season in the Missouri Valley Conference. After moving on from the OVC, the Bruins played a brutal pre-conference schedule, then stumbled out of the gate a bit when conference play began. But, they soon came upright and have now won 16 games in a row, including a tournament semi-final win yesterday over Northern Iowa. (Remember them? That last-second three-pointer in Cancun?).

Belmont wound up 17-3 in MVC play and is 23-10 overall. Kendall Cheesman has grown into a keg cog in coach Mark Brooks' rotation. She's averaging about 11 minutes per game on the season, but that has steadily increased. She is now often the first sub off the bench and has been a solid performer in all aspects of the game.

I've seen about 20 of their games (maybe more), and they are enjoyable to watch. It's a much more free and pretty form of basketball than the sumo ball we see in the SEC.

Their opponent today is Drake, a red-hot team that beat Illinois State by 20 yesterday. Illinois State tied Belmont for first place in the regular season at 17-3 and beat the Bruins in Nashville, so Drake's thrashing of them means something. Belmont and Drake split during the regular season with Drake putting on a shooting exhibition early in the season and Belmont beating them by six a couple of weeks ago in Nashville. Should be a great game. Destinee Wells has averaged 31 ppg for the last three games.


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Re: Belmont in MVC Championship Game

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Cold cold shooting. Down 39-26 at the half.
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Re: Belmont in MVC Championship Game

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Drake wins 89-71. I'm convinced.

These teams will mostly return intact next year, so there could be some good games ahead for them. The best I can tell, Belmont will only lose one player, and that's grad transfer Sydney Harvey. On the other hand, they'll get starting guard Tuti Jones back after she suffered a season-ending injury eight games into the season.

Not sure about the Bruins' prospects for the NCAA tourney. With a NET of 80, they are probably in jeopardy. In their defense, their out-of-conference strength of schedule is 12th in the nation, and after conference play they still wound up 73.
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Re: Belmont in MVC Championship Game

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Belmont fell short of an NCAA tournament bid but opens WNIT play today at 5:30 at Ball State. The game will be on ESPN3, which is the network's digital outlet.

https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/ ... 6b07c0b090
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Re: Belmont in MVC Championship Game

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Belmont down 42-40 at the half. Kendal Cheesman has 11 points, including three 3-pointers.
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Re: Belmont in MVC Championship Game

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Lost 101-86. Ball State hit 16 three-pointers. Destinee Wells with 35 for Belmont.
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