Belmont and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville currently lead the Ohio Valley Conference women’s basketball standings with their four-game, undefeated conference record.

Eastern and Tennessee Tech, finds themselves at the bottom of conference competition as either team has yet to win a conference game. Tennessee Tech has a slight edge over Eastern in that Tennessee Tech boasts a 3-12 overall record while the Panthers sit at 1-14 on the season.

Belmont stands tall in OVC standings, leading with its .824 overall winning percentage. Southern Illinois-Edwardsville trails in that category (.467 percent overall) but is saved by its perfect conference record.

The Belmont Bruins have defeated the likes of Southeast Missouri, Tennessee-Martin, Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State with their biggest win coming over Tennessee Tech (78-59). Belmont most recently took on Jacksonville State, winning 71-55 over the Gamecocks.

Belmont’s Darby Maggard led the Bruin scoring against Jacksonville State with 21 points and outscored Jacksonville’s top scorer by 11 points.

Maggarad also boasted four assists in the win.

Maggard was accompanied by Sierra Jones and Jenny Roy, and both gave perfect performances from the field. Jones went 4-for-4, posting 11 points, and Roy was 3-for-3 with 12 points boosted by five free throws. Roy was also the leading rebounder with 11.

Southern Illinois-Edwardsville earned its undefeated title after a weekend win over Morehead State (66-51). Sydney Bauman emerged as a leader for the Cougars with her 12-point, eight-rebound performance.

Doshel Beck was the only other Cougar to score in the double digits with 10 points. Both Beck and Bauman outscored Morehead States point leader, who snatched just nine points.

The two top teams will battle for the No. 1 OVC spot as they face each other Saturday afternoon.

Much of the current conference standings are all tied up at this point in the season with several teams tying each other by way of conference record. When sorting on conference record alone, Austin Peay and Jacksonville State are tied for third with 3-1 records.

Coming in fourth with 2-2 conference records are Morehead State, Southeastern Missouri, Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee-Martin. Vying for the fifth place slot are Murray State and Tennessee State; each team sits at 1-3.

Kaitlin Cordes can be reached at 581-2812 or krcordes@eiu.edu