The Belmont women’s basketball team’s hope of claiming the school’s first national championship was dashed Wednesday as it lost to Minnesota 75-63 in the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament title game in Indianapolis.
It was the deepest national postseason run in any sport for No. 3 seed Belmont (26-13), which had won 10 of its previous 11 games.
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After falling behind by 24 points on two occasions in the third quarter, the Bruins used a 12-0 run in the fourth to trim Minnesota’s lead to 65-55. Belmont’s Kendal Cheesman hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 67-58 and Jailyn Banks made a layup to cut it to 71-63 with 1:13 left.
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That was as close as the Bruins would come, though they outscored No. 2 seed Minnesota 24-17 in the fourth quarter. They had come from 21 points down in the first half against Northern Arizona in the second round to win 81-80.
“It didn’t surprise me,” Belmont coach Bart Brooks said when asked about the late run. “We just could not get any momentum offensively. We had multiple possessions of everything goes right except the ball didn’t go in. It was just one of those nights.”
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The Bruins were 20 of 60 (33.3%) from the field Wednesday and just 10 of 38 (26.3%) on 3-pointers. Banks, a guard from Middle Tennessee Christian School, led Belmont with 17 points. Freshman Sanaa Tripp came off the bench to score 13 points. Cheesman, a Vanderbilt transfer, had 11 points and six rebounds.
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Senior Tuti Jones had 11 points and four steals, including two in the final five minutes. Jones, Banks, Cheesman and Tripp, however, went 0-for-5 on 3-pointers in the final 53 seconds that could have made a difference.
“The thing about this team is I know they’re going to compete until the buzzer sounds and that’s why I love them so much,” Jones said. “We were just trying to give it our all. Do whatever we could to win the game. We just couldn’t get there.”
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The No. 2 seed Gophers (25-11) from the Big Ten beat Toledo, Missouri State, Gonzaga and Florida in the tournament. Minnesota played in the WNIT championship in 2023-24.
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“We knew Belmont was going to make a run, and boy, they sure made one at the end,” Minnesota coach Dawn Plitzuweit said. “We were able to kind of weather that storm and I’m just really proud of our young ladies for the resilience that they’ve shown all year in dealing with the adversity that we’ve gone through.”
Minnesota’s defense stifled the Bruins for most of the game, and they were unable to stop freshman guard Tori McKinney. She had a career-high 26 points midway through the third quarter at a point when Belmont had only 26 points as a team.
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McKinney made 10 of 14 field goals, including four 3-pointers, before leaving the game after picking up her fourth foul midway through the fourth quarter. She was back on the floor at the end and played a key role in helping the Gophers hold off Belmont.
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“At the end in our huddle, we were saying we’ve got to get this stop,” said McKinney, who also had three steals and three assists. “I mean, we do take pride in ourselves, but at the same time, it was more about being together and if it was five on the court, then this five has us and we’re good.”
Heyer had 18 points and 16 rebounds for Minnesota. She also had 16 rebounds in the semifinal win over Florida.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: WBIT championship: Minnesota beats Belmont for title
