Welcome to 2010!

The Curb Event Center has been busy this week, already hosting 2 out of the 3 double headers scheduled within 6 days. What a way to come back from the winter break having 3 games practically back-to-back-to-back. Both the men and women’s teams did not start off the New Year how I’m sure they would have liked, both coming up with losses to Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday.

Both teams came back in the second double header with something to prove. The Belmont teams were victorious over the Hatters from Stetson with Amber Rockwell and Ian Clark having big games for the women and men respectively. Rockwell knocked down 6 three-pointers to lead the team with 18 points while freshman Ian Clark had a career high night posting 31 points.

Both Bruins teams will be back in action Thursday afternoon as they take on USC Upstate at 2:00 and 4:15.

Heading into the Holidays....

Our Women’s basketball team is off to a great start this season with a 6-3 record. We had a shaky night against Tennesse Tech’s Golden Eagles last Saturday night. The Lady Bruins had a good first half and felt we could finish the game with a win. Our team was not shooting as well as we would like to and just fell short of winning the game by 3 points. The Lady Bruins have great chemistry this year but were having a lack of focus as well as communication and not playing quite to our potential throughout the game. Our team has so much potential to have a great season, so coming off of a loss right before our Christmas break will just give us time to get focused and regroup to finish off our season strong. Preparing for conference games is going to be our next field of importance. We are really planning on making it to the NCAA tournament this year so our focus is going to have to be stronger than ever when we return to Belmont for the remaining games coming up.

- Haley Nelson, SO #44

First Doubleheader of the Season

If you didn’t make it out to the Curb Event Center Saturday night for the Women’s Basketball game, then you missed a thriller against Alabama. Those that got to the Men’s game early were not disappointed with plenty of action and hopefully they will come to some other women’s games this season. The game was back and forth the majority of the time and Belmont held on to a 2 point lead as time was expiring before Alabama was able to knock down a jumper to send the game in to overtime. Overtime was just as exciting as the end of regulation and was nearly sent in to another overtime period. Belmont was down by 1 as Alabama was trying to throw the ball in. Belmont was able to come up with a steal on the in bounds and knock down a lay-up to go up by 1. With only seconds remaining, Alabama made a costly turnover giving back the ball to Belmont which knocked down 1 out of 2 free throws. The last attempt of an over half court shot by Alabama just fell short to secure the victory for the Belmont Bruins and extend their winning record to 3-0.

After a brief intermission, it was time to see how the men could perform on their home court for the first time this season. Before the start of the game, the freshmen, class of 2013, was honored and had the chance to run out on the court with the team. From the opening whistle, the team came out strong and built up a dominant lead which they never relished to the opposing squad from Alabama State. This game luckily was not a nail biter, as the women’s was, because I do not think our fans could have handled two extremely close games in one night. All fans were entertained at halftime by the USA Hot Shot Jump Rope team from Franklin, TN. Both teams will have a small break from playing to enjoy the food and festivities that surround Thanksgiving Day. They will both be back on the court in action this weekend: Friday for the women when they start play in a tournament out in Arizona against Oregon State and Saturday for the men when they travel north to play Eastern Illinois.

Senior day for Jenny Gray

The final game of the regular season was special particularly for Jenny Gray, the lone senior on this years team. J. Gray, as she is better known on the court, had several fans in attendance all sporting the I <3 Jenny Gray t-shirts.

Throughout the season you could sense the amount of leadership she had and could tell her team looked up to her as the Senior Captain. Although Campbell put up a good fight, Belmont was able to secure the victory in 3 games and send J. Gray out in winning ways on her home court. The Belmont Bruins have an opportunity to extend their season down in Florida starting Thursday when they open up with Kennesaw State in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.