The OVC women’s basketball standings have started to take more substantive shape as of late, with Belmont beginning to make up games after missing nearly a month of action due to COVID protocols.

The Bruins have now played five conference games this season and every other team has played at least eight.

Tennessee-Martin is leading the way with a 7-1 record in the OVC and is riding a six-game winning streak. Southeast Missouri is in second with a conference record of 6-2.

The rest of the top-eight teams in the OVC, that would earn a berth in the OVC Tournament should the season end today, all have conference records of .500 or above.

Austin Peay is in third with an OVC record of 7-3, Jacksonville State is fourth at 5-3, Belmont is fifth at 3-2, Tennessee Tech is sixth at 5-4 and Eastern and Eastern Kentucky are tied for seventh at 5-5.

Seven of the top eight teams in the standings finished in the top eight last season as well, with Eastern Kentucky replacing Murray State in the top eight so far this season. The Racers are currently in ninth place with a conference record of 4-6.

Tennessee State has been struggling mightily this season with a conference record of 0-9 and an overall record of 0-11.

The Tigers have the lowest-scoring offense in the OVC, averaging 48.4 points per game, and the lowest-ranked defense as well, allowing an average of 76.3 points per game.

Murray State’s offense is leading the OVC in scoring, averaging 70.5 points per game. Eastern and Tennessee-Martin are tied for second in offense with a points per game average of 69.9 this season.

Southeast Missouri, Jacksonville State and Belmont are the top-three defenses in the OVC, allowing 58.3, 58.8 and 58.9 points per game this season respectively.

Tennessee-Martin’s Chelsey Perry continues to lead the OVC in scoring by a wide margin, with an 8.8-point gap between her and the second-ranked player.

Perry is averaging 28 points per game, which also leads the nation.

Eastern remains the only team in the OVC to have three players in the top-10 in the conference in scoring.

Abby Wahl ranks fifth with 16.3 points per game, Karle Pace ranks sixth with 13.9 points per game and Lariah Washington in tied for 10th with 13.7 points per game.

Eastern’s Kira Arthofer leads the OVC in assists per game with an average of 4.7, which is 0.8 more assists per game than the next-closest player.

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