Brooks Preaches Consistency as Belmont Falls to 0-3
Belmont women’s basketball remains winless after a convincing 84-64 loss to Columbia Sunday afternoon at the Curb Event Center.
Belmont, the host of the Nashville Opening Statement event between the top teams in the Missouri Valley Conference, American Conference, Atlantic 10 Conference and Ivy League, led for less than two minutes across its two games.
“I thought we had way too many possessions where we did things well, and then they ended up getting the result, whether it was a second shot, a loose ball or a decision we made that gave them an easy basket,” head coach Bart Brooks said. “Credit to Columbia; they’re a really good team. But I think this was a lot of self-imposed mistakes.”
Belmont came into the game still reeling from the heartbreaking 69-66 Opening Statement loss to South Florida Friday night, and got off to another slow start.
Columbia held a seven-point lead with four minutes left in the quarter, but the Bruins responded with an 8-0 run, fueled by two 3-pointers from sophomore Kate McGinnis, to take a one-point lead in the closing minutes.
Columbia retook the lead, but McGinnis’ third triple, a buzzer-beating desperation heave, gave the Bruins a one-point advantage at the end of the quarter.
However, Belmont couldn’t parlay McGinnis’ make into momentum, getting outscored 24-12 in the second quarter.
Belmont shot 4-for-12 from the field, including 0-for-5 from 3-point range, and turned the ball over five times in the second quarter, underscoring a troubling trend to start the year.
In the three games the Bruins have played, they’ve been outscored by 31 points in the second quarter. In all other quarters, they’ve been outscored by three, and Brooks doesn’t have a working theory to explain the discrepancy.
“I’m not sure I have a good answer for that. If I did, we would have adjusted and done something better,” Brooks said. “We obviously are not performing consistently enough. I think we’ve got moments where we are where we’re supposed to be, but there are way too many self-imposed mistakes.”
One area where Belmont needs some consistency is its 3-point shooting.
In the four quarters the Bruins have outscored opponents, they’ve shot 13-for-27 from 3-point range, or 48.1%. In all other quarters, they’ve shot 8-for-45, or 17.8%.
“I think shooting is a challenging thing because you get great looks sometimes and you miss, and sometimes you make tough shots,” Brooks said. “My emphasis is always on the quality of shot we’re getting. I thought we had some good ones today that we missed, and I’m fine with taking them.”
Both offenses went dormant in the third quarter, going nearly five minutes without a field goal and combining to shoot 0-for-11 during that span.
Columbia broke out of its slump by hitting its last four shots of the quarter to extend the lead back up to 11, putting the Bruins right back where they started.
“I think we had a stretch in the third quarter tonight where the game got away from us,” Brooks said. “We took, probably on three consecutive possessions, bad shots, and that’s the recipe for getting beat.”
Probably the best shot a Bruin took in the second half was by Josiah Willis, a business administration major who sank a half-court shot between the third and fourth quarters for a free semester of tuition, courtesy of Matt Hardin Law.
“I honestly was kind of in shock,” Willis said. “But I was confident. I knew I was going to make it.”
Willis’ shot would prove to be the last thing Belmont fans had to cheer for, as the Bruins got outscored 29-20 in the fourth quarter to drop their third straight game to open the season.
The three-game losing streak is Belmont’s longest to begin a season during Brooks’ tenure as head coach. It’s the program’s longest since dropping five straight to open the 2014 season, the last time the Bruins finished with a losing record.
Belmont’s next chance to snap the streak comes Friday at home against 3-0 Troy.
“As we prepare for Friday, we have to have some consistency in how we prepare, play and practice,” Brooks said.
This article was written by Sam Dicus
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