Belmont Women’s Basketball To Face Off Against Oregon In NCAA Tournament

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Pictured: The Belmont Women’s Basketball celebrating its selection into the NCAA tournament during a party at Belmont University. Photo: Courtesy of Belmont Athletics

The Belmont women’s basketball team is headed to the NCAA Tournament as the No. 12 seed and will play No. 5 seed Oregon in Knoxville on Saturday, March 19.

This is the seventh NCAA Tournament appearance that the Bruins have made it to the dance and the sixth in seven years. The team had another immaculate season, finishing 22-7 and winning the OVC Tournament Title with ease.

This year marks the third time and second consecutive season Belmont has earned a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins upset fifth-seeded and 14th-ranked Gonzaga 64-59 in the 2021 NCAA Tournament First Round, becoming the first OVC program to win a NCAA Tournament game since 1990.

The Bruins, led by 2022 OVC Coach of the Year Bart Brooks, are an extremely talented team. Sophomore Destinee Wells won OVC Tournament MVP for the second consecutive year after scoring 22 points in two games. Wells averaged 16.6 ppg, 129 assists, and shot 75% from the free-throw line. She was key for Belmont when they beat Gonzaga in March Madness last year, scoring 25 points.

Along with Wells, sophomores Tutti Jones and Madison Bartley will be major factors in the game. Jones, who was named 2022 OVC Defensive Player of the Year, dominated in conference play this year averaging 11 ppg, 4.3 rpg, and stole the ball 81 times.

Bartley had a breakthrough season being named to the OVC All-First Team. She averaged 11.7 ppg, 5 rpg and blocked 49 shots. She was second on the team in field goals made and shot for 52%.

Oregon finished the season with a record of 20-11 and went 11-6 in Pac-12 Conference play. The Ducks went on to lose to sixth-seeded Utah 80-73 in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals.

This will be the first time the two programs will face each other, but Belmont is no stranger to Power-5 opponents.

Over the past years, Brooks has been determined to schedule extremely tough non-conference teams to help prepare the Bruins for the NCAA Tournament–such asGeorgia Tech, Arkansas, Louisville, Kentucky and NC State, just to name a few. This method proved victorious when the Bruins knocked out Gonzaga in 2021.

Belmont will play Oregon at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. CT. Tickets are available now and can be purchased through the University of Tennessee’s website.

Steven Boero
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