The Eastern women’s basketball team will be looking to move one step closer to clinching an Ohio Valley Conference Tournament spot Saturday when it heads to Nashville, Tenn., to play Belmont.

After it looked like all hope had been lost against Austin Peay Monday, when being down 10 in the second half, the Panthers found a way to come back and defeat the Governors to move ahead in the conference standings.

The Panthers are currently in the seventh spot in the OVC, which is .5 game ahead of the Governors and a full game above Morehead State and Southeast Missouri.

Austin Peay has played one more game than Eastern.

Saturday’s opponent in Belmont is 12-14 overall, but 9-4 in conference play and has won five straight games.

Jordan Luffman, who has started 24-of-26 games this season, leads the Bruins. She averages 14.4 points a game this season on 39.3 percent shooting from the field.

Luffman is also the Bruins best 3-point shooter and best free throw shooter, shooting 41.7 percent and 85.3 percent, respectively.

The Bruins are coming off a 57-48 win over Tennessee Tech at home, where they shot 46.2 from the floor and 45.5 percent from 3-point range.

Sabina Oroszova leads the Panthers, averaging 17.5 points per game in 34 minutes per game, while also averaging 10.1 rebounds per game.

Oroszova is shooting 44.8 from the floor and has a 28.1 3-point shooting percentage on the season.

In the win against Austin Peay on Monday, the Governors had no answer for Oroszova. She scored 24 points and had eight rebounds.

Morgan Palombizio has been another Panther who has been in a consistent stretch as of late.

The last two games she has gone 5-of-8 from the field, which includes 5-of-5 from the 3-point line.

As a whole, the Panthers have been on a bit of a hot stretch. They have won three of their last four games, including their first conference road game on Monday.

In the win against Austin Peay Eastern shot 63.6 percent in the second half, which propelled them to a win.

In the win against Southeast Missouri back on Feb. 8, the Panthers shot 46.2 percent in the second half, leading to a 53-48 win.

The Panthers have three games left on the season and will most likely have to win two of those to secure a spot in the OVC tournament, which begins March. 5.

The Panthers and Bruins will tip off at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Curb Event Center in Nashville, Tenn.

Bob Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or rjreynolds@eiu.edu