Belmont won its final home game of the season 67-61 against the top Missouri Valley Conference seeded Missouri State Lady Bears.
Belmont kicked off its senior night Saturday afternoon by honoring seniors Kendal Cheesman, Carmyn Harrison, Liz Suder and graduate players Kendall Holmes and Jacee Busick at center court before tip-off.
“This is a special group of seniors. So obviously we were playing for them today,” said head coach Bart Brooks.
Belmont started with the ball, but the Lady Bears scored first off senior forward Sarah Linthacum’s layup.
The first half was a largely back-and-forth affair as both teams played stifling team defense, forcing each other late into the shot clock and into contested shots.
The Lady Bears ended the first quarter with a five-point lead off several tough makes from mid-range and beyond the arc.
They also held Cheesman, Belmont’s leading scorer for the season, scoreless through the first half as the Lady Bears double teamed her in the post.
The Bruins closely contested Missouri State’s offensive attempts and kept the game close early and even took over the lead at different points.
“We were just getting stops on the defensive end. It really opened us up on the offensive end,” said Sophomore Guard Jailyn Banks.
Banks made several tough layups, leading the Bruins with 10 points through the first half and led all Belmont scorers on the night with 21 points.
The Lady Bears strung together enough possessions, including a last-minute jumper from sophomore guard Kyrah Daniels, to lead by one going into the second half.
Daniels led all Lady Bears in scoring with 19 points.
“I thought we had to have a response to that, and I thought our players did,” said Brooks. “We have the ability to go on spurts and runs, and we've been searching for that for the last couple weeks, and we found it today.”
The Bruins came out in the third with a reignited offensive energy scoring eight straight off two threes from Holmes and a hook shot from Cheesman.
The Lady Bears never fully regained momentum as the Bruins continued their strong defensive effort.
The stretch was highlighted by a strong block from Cheesman and a trailing three on the other end to bring the crowd to its feet near the end of the third quarter.
The crowd stayed standing as Banks took the last shot of the quarter and hit from deep to give the Bruins a 14-point lead going into the final quarter.
The Bruins maintained their lead in spite of a defensive collapse as the MVC’s top seeded Lady Bears went on a 13-2 run in the final three minutes of the game.
The run was led by Missouri State’s top scoring duo of Daniels and senior guard Lacy Stokes who combined for 33 points on the night.
The Bruins, now tied for fourth in the MVC, will head on the road for their final two regular season games against Indiana State and the University of Evansville before competing in the MVC Tournament March 13-16.
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This article was written by Braden Simmons.
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