Belmont has been picked to win the 2021-22 Ohio Valley Conference women's basketball title in a preseason poll of the head coaches and communications directors. 

Belmont is coming off a season in which it went 21-6 overall and 14-3 in OVC to finish second. The Bruins earned the second seed in the OVC Tournament and defeated No. 1 UT Martin, 83-75, in the championship final. Belmont earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and defeated Gonzaga in the first round.

The Bruins became the first OVC team in 31 years to win an NCAA Tournament game. Bark Brooks, enters his fifth season at the helm of the Bruins and will have a pair of All-OVC selections return from last season.

The 2021-22 OVC Pre-season Player of the Year sophomore guard Destinee Wells and senior forward Conley Chinn will be returning this season. Wells (Lakeland, Tenn.) was named the OVC Freshman of the Year after leading the league with 4.6 assist per game while ranking second with 17.8 point per outing. Chinn (Jackson, Miss.) finished last year ranking among league leaders with 12.1 points and 4.8 rebounds per game to earn All-OVC First Team honors.

2021-22 OVC Women’s Basketball Predicted Order of Finish 
1. Belmont (15 first-place votes) 159
2. Tennessee Tech (Two first-place votes) 134
3. Murray State (Three first-place votes) 125
4. UT Martin 104
5. Austin Peay 95
6. Southeast Missouri 91
7. Eastern Illinois 83
8. SIUE 44
9. Morehead State 43
10. Tennessee State 23
(*Schools were not allowed to rank their own team. 9 points awarded for a first-place vote, 8 for second, etc.)

2021-22 Preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference Women’s Basketball Team
Preseason OVC Player of the Year: Destinee Wells, Belmont
NAME, SCHOOL POS. HT. CL. HOMETOWN KEY STATS FROM 208-19
Macey Turley, Murray State* G 5-6 Sr. Murray, Ky. 17.6 ppg, 92.3 FT%
Destinee Wells, Belmont*% G 5-6 So. Lakeland, Tenn. 17.8 ppg, 4.6 apg
Katelyn Young, Murray State* F 6-1 So. Oakwood, Ill. 14.1 ppg, 9.3 rpg
Abby Wahl, Eastern Illinois* F/C 6-1 R-Jr. Santa Claus, Ind. 14.5 ppg, 7.4 rpg
Conley Chinn, Belmont* F 6-1 Sr. Jackson, Miss. 12.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg
Yamia Johnson, Austin Peay* G 5-11 Sr. Lexington, S.C. 14.9 ppg, 39.4 3PTFG%
Lariah Washington, Eastern Illinois# G 5-9 R-So. St. Cloud, Minn. 14.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg
Anna Jones, Tennessee Tech#% G/F 6-1 Gr. Jackson, Tenn. 11.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg
Jordan Brock, Tennessee Tech# G 5-7 Gr. Harlan, Ky. 11.8 ppg, 84.9 FT%
Kesha Brady, Tennessee Tech# G 5-7 Gr. Smyrna, Tenn. 11.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg
Tuti Jones, Belmont G 5-7 So. Troy, Ala. 9.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg
Mackenzie Coleman, Tennessee Tech F 6-3 Gr. Edmonton, Ky. 10.3 ppg, 5.6 rpg

* - 1st team All-OVC in 2020-21 # - 2nd team All-OVC in 2020-21 % - OVC All-Newcomer team in 2020-21