Belmont women’s basketball has historic day with first-round victory over Gonzaga
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BVM) — Belmont University women’s basketball has had a number of historical successes, but not one quite as impactful as their most recent victory over Gonzaga in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 22. As the No. 12 seed, the Bruins were not expected to beat the No. 5-seed Bulldogs, but the tournament is called March Madness for a reason. With a 64-59 win, the Bruins made history with the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory and earning the Ohio Valley Conference’s fifth-ever tournament win and first since 1990.
BELMONT DOWNS THE ZAGS!
Destinee Wells has a game earning @BelmontWBB their first ever #ncaaW tournament win UPSETTING No. 5 Gonzaga 64-59! pic.twitter.com/BLuHahGAjR
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) March 22, 2021
The impact of the team’s achievement has reverberated throughout the state of Tennessee, the region and the country.
“That’s why we commit to Belmont, that’s why we come here,” junior forward Conley Chinn said. “It was our next goal. We can win one of these games. We can do it. We’ve seen older girls get right there. So it was really exciting and just a great feeling because that’s what we come here for.”
The team had been to the NCAA Tournament before, including four times over the past five years, compiling a record of 0-5. The Bruins were facing long odds to change the program’s narrative this tournament as the team was playing a Gonzaga squad that was ranked No. 14 in the latest AP Poll. The program had not seen a victory over a team in the AP Poll in its history, having gone 0-23 in its previous games against ranked teams.
But things are always meant to change.
“A lot of teams would’ve just given up facing adversity,” Chinn said. “We have great leadership, great coaches, great support from our athletic departments and our family. [Our power] just comes from that passion to break down walls and to face adversity and take it head on and grab ahold of whatever we want.”
The OVC Tournament champions were led by freshman guard Destinee Wells who scored a game-high 25 points to go along with seven assists and three steals. The point total was a tournament record for the Bruins adding to an already memorable freshman year for Wells who had previously brought home the OVC Freshman of the Year award and the OVC Tournament MVP award as well as first-team all-OVC and first-team all-OVC newcomer honors.
In addition to the Wells’ stellar play, the Bruins were also helped by fellow freshman guard Tuti Jones who added eight points and a team-high four rebounds and four steals as well as reserve freshman forward Madison Bartley who shot 50% from the field and 100% from the foul line and finished the day with nine points, good for second on the team, one rebound and a steal.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Jones said. “I think I have a lot of good teammates, not only the freshmen. But, I think overall we just came together, we all did our jobs so I think the future is bright for Belmont.”
As one of the leaders on the team, Chinn wanted to remind her younger teammates that this is just the beginning for the young unit. When an article pegged that the best outcome for the Bruins this tournament was a close loss to the Bulldogs, Chinn kept it to remind the team what the media thought of them. When the team won, Chinn tweeted the summary out telling her teammates that they are in fact just freshmen and did what nobody expected.
“We love any momentum we can get, any reason to prove people wrong,” Chinn said. “People have been saying all year long that we have freshmen, we’re a young team. It’s proven to be just fine for us. We love our freshmen. Our freshmen are great. When we did see that we were a little like they don’t even think, best case scenario, that we win?”
Remember, @DestineeWells1 @tutijones3 @MBartley22 @bschoenwald10 YALL ARE FRESHMEN. pic.twitter.com/VzjhOufeXy
— Conley Chinn (@conleychinn20) March 22, 2021
Though the Bruins shot a lower percentage from the field (41.4% to 54.8% for the Bulldogs), were outrebounded (37-18) and had less second chance points (15-10), the team won the turnover battle by only coughing the ball up six times while forcing the Bulldogs into 20 turnovers.
“I’m still a little bit baffled that we only had 18 rebounds in a game and we won,” head coach Bart Brooks said. “I think it just speaks of the toughness of our group and obviously it was a big moment for our program.”
The Bruins were able to turn the Bulldogs’ mistakes into easy points on the other end, out-scoring Gonzaga in points off turnovers 25-5 The ability to force mistakes without making many of their own ultimately made the difference for the Bruins on the scoreboard and made for the historic upset.
“We focus on defense and that defense leads to offense,” Jones said. “We just go off that and try to turn our defensive play into a better offense.”
While the moment will be remembered in program history as the first time the team made it over the NCAA Tournament hump, it will likely be remembered by Brooks for a different reason. The victory not only gave Brooks his first in the NCAA Tournament, but also his 100th as the head coach of the Bruins. The moment and history behind it is just an added bonus for the coach.
“I feel like this program is so much bigger than me,” Brooks said. “When I think about what that day meant for this program, thinking through all the years that this program has worked…it’s pretty amazing we get to experience this and I think yesterday getting to win this game for this program, for this team was special for me.”
The journey will not get any easier for the Bruins. The victory pushed the team into a second round matchup against the No. 4-seeded Indiana Hoosiers on March 24. The Hoosiers represent another ranked team, finishing No. 12 in the most recent AP Poll, as well as one that is fresh off of an impressive 63-32 victory over No. 13-seed VCU.
“It’s another goal, it’s just another level we can reach,” Chinn said. “There’s nothing this team can’t do if we set our minds to it and we actually believe in ourselves and I think we can bring the same power, energy and love that we brought yesterday tomorrow and do the same thing.”
Though the upcoming matchup may seem tough, the team has faced long odds before and come out on top. With one of the most significant victories in program history already completed, the Bruins will look to continue adding to its historic March run with a win over the Hoosiers.
