With about a month remaining until the start of conference play, seven OVC women’s basketball teams have records above .500.

Leading the way is Morehead State at 5-1. They also lead the OVC in scoring offense, averaging 90.5 points per game. 

Back on Nov. 20, Morehead State beat Alice Lloyd College 121-56, tying their school record for points. They also broke a school record, scoring 71 points in the first half. 

Redshirt-junior Aliyah Jeune scored 30 in the win for the Golden Eagles on 13-20 shooting.

Currently occupying second place in the standings is reigning back-to-back OVC champions, Belmont. 

The Bruins sit at 4-1 so far and are riding a four-game win streak, tied for the longest in the conference this season. 

Despite their early success, Belmont is seventh in the OVC in scoring at 67 points per game.

Tied for third place is a trio of teams at 3-1. Those teams are Eastern, Murray State and Southern Illinois Edwardsville. 

Eastern’s defense is the best in the conference so far. The Panthers are only surrendering 53 points per game. They also boast the conference’s fifth-best offense, scoring 77 points per game.

Their only loss came on the road against a talented Butler team on Nov. 9. 

Southern Illinois Edwardsville’s defense is narrowly in second place, giving up 53.5 points per game. The Cougars need this defensive efficiency to make up for their offense, which is currently the second worst in the OVC, averaging 53.8 points per game.

Murray State’s offense is the reason for its success so far. The Racers are scoring 89 points per game, the second most in the OVC. Their best performance this season came against Oakland City on Nov. 10, a game the Racers won 113-55.

Like Eastern, Murray State’s only loss came against Butler on the road. 

A pair of Tennessee teams is the last two OVC teams over .500. Tennessee Tech and Tennessee-Martin are tied for sixth place at 4-2.

Tennessee Tech has the fifth-best defense and sixth-best offense in the OVC this season, scoring 73.8 points and allowing 63.7 points per game. 

Tennessee-Martin’s offense is the third best in the OVC, scoring 87.5 points per game. However, they currently have the worst defense in the conference, allowing 90 points or more in three of their six games. 

Thanks to their offense, the Skyhawks won two of those three games. 

The individual leaderboards, much like the standings, are dominated by Morehead State. The OVC’s top two scorers are Golden Eagles.

Senior guard Miranda Crockett leads the conference with 21.5 points per game, and redshirt-junior Aliyah Jeune is second with 20.2 points per game. They are the only two OVC players averaging over 20 points. 

Eastern has two players in the top ten in scoring. Taylor Steele is seventh with 14.8 points per game, and Karle Pace is ninth with 13.8 points per game. 

Most of the teams in the conference have been playing competitively so far.

The OVC has an overall record of 32-31, with Eastern Kentucky (0-5) and Tennessee State (0-7) being the only teams truly struggling. 

Adam Tumino can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]