Women's Basketball | 10/23/24 | 10:27 AM
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics has released the preseason edition of the 2024-25 NAIA Women's Basketball Top 25 Poll. The Carroll College Women's Basketball team begins the year at No. 8 in the nation.
Anticipation is high for the Fighting Saints (28-6, 14-1) season to begin, with their first scheduled contest of the season quickly approaching on October 31 as they host Arizona Christian.
A semifinalist in 2023-24, the Carroll Women made a memorable run that saw them advance further into the NAIA tournament than any team in the 50-year history of the program. Now, a new-look Saints squad will begin their quest for a third-straight Frontier title, and their fifth in the last seven years.
The Fighting Saints begin their season as the No. 8 ranked team in the NAIA, marking four straight seasons beginning inside the Top-10 in the preseason polls ('21-22 - 7, '22-23 - 4, '23-24 - 6).
Carroll has become a mainstay in the bi-weekly rankings. The Saints are the only Frontier Conference school to have spent every week ranked inside the nation's Top-25, dating back to the Division I and II merger in 2019.
Two other Frontier schools appear on the poll, No. 2 Providence and No. 21 Rocky Mountain College.
The Full NAIA Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll is listed below:
Poll Methodology:
- The poll is for publicity purposes only and has no weight or bearing in the selection process for national championship field consideration.
- A panel of head coaches representing each conference and Continental Athletic Conference (Independents) voted on the poll.
- The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter votes the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place, 28 for third-place and so on through the list.
- The highest and lowest vote for each team (a non-vote is considered a low vote) is removed.
- Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered "receiving votes".
- Records listed are as of the end of the day on Monday of the poll week.
- For the first preseason poll, there is no column referencing the last time, as polls are new and different from the rating system.
| RANK |
INSTITUTION [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] |
2023-24 RECORD |
POINTS |
| 1 |
Dordt (Iowa) [12] |
35-2 |
532 |
| 2 |
Providence (Mont.) [7] |
27-9 |
525 |
| 3 |
Indiana Wesleyan [1] |
29-5 |
496 |
| 4 |
Campbellsville (Ky.) |
31-2 |
470 |
| 5 |
Concordia (Neb.) |
27-7 |
452 |
| 6 |
Dakota State (S.D.) |
28-7 |
432 |
| 7 |
Cumberlands (Ky.) |
26-10 |
422 |
| 8 |
Carroll (Mont.) |
28-6 |
412 |
| 9 |
Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) |
22-11 |
357 |
| 10 |
Southern Oregon |
28-5 |
330 |
| 11 |
Georgetown (Ky.) |
25-7 |
326 |
| 12 |
Indiana Tech |
30-4 |
298 |
| 13 |
Loyola (La.) |
26-5 |
289 |
| 14 |
LSU Shreveport (La.) |
30-3 |
252 |
| 15 |
Rio Grande (Ohio) |
26-6 |
235 |
| 16 |
Mayville State (S.D.) |
26-4 |
230 |
| 17 |
Grand View (Iowa) |
37-5 |
216 |
| 18 |
Wayland Baptist (Texas) |
23-9 |
200 |
| 19 |
Northwestern (Iowa) |
19-12 |
192 |
| 20 |
Oregon Tech |
27-5 |
181 |
| 21 |
Rocky Mountain (Mont.) |
16-13 |
163 |
| 22 |
Saint Francis (Ind.) |
18-11 |
151 |
| 23 |
Briar Cliff (Iowa) |
24-10 |
139 |
| 24 |
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) |
26-6 |
125 |
| 25 |
IU South Bend (Ind.) |
31-2 |
124 |
Receiving Votes: The Master's (Calif.) 115, Marian (Ind.) 102, Jamestown (N.D.) 91, William Carey (Miss.) 57, Pikeville (Ky.) 50, Tabor (Kan.) 47, Benedictine (Kan.) 43, Mid-America Christian (Okla.) 39, Stephens (Mo.) 35, Southeastern (Fla.) 22, Oakland City (Ind.) 15, Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 13, Arizona Christian 12, Saint Xavier (Ill.) 12, Langston (Okla.) 11, Xavier (La.) 9, MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 6, Milligan (Tenn.) 5, Columbia (Mo.) 4
Visit www.carrollathletics.com to continue to stay up to date with everything going on in Carroll Athletics.
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