KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) hhas officially released its Preseason NAIA Women's Basketball Coaches' Poll. Carroll will begin the season as the nation's No. 16-ranked team.
The Fighting Saints have been one of the NAIA's most consistently successful programs over the last 10 seasons, and will look to continue their run of consecutive NAIA Tournament appearances in the 2025-26 season.
After finishing the 2024-25 season in the receiving votes portion of the NAIA Poll, and coming up one win shy of their eighth-straight 20-win season, the Saints have found themselves back in the national conversation to start the year.
Carroll is the second-highest rated Frontier Conference team, trailing only Frontier newcomers Dakota State, who appears at No. 4 in the preseason poll. Carroll was selected second by the league's coaches earlier this week, tied with Rocky, who is the only other Frontier team appearing inside the Top-25 at No. 21. The 12-team league also has a pair of teams appearing in the receiving votes portion of the poll in Providence and Montana Tech.
The Saints begin the year with a trio of exhibition contests against NCAA opponents (MSU Billings, Gonzaga, Montana State) before hosting their first game of the season - a rematch of last year's NAIA WBB Championship opening round game against Wayland Baptist (Texas), who appears in the receiving votes portion of the poll, on November 6 in the annual Champions of Character Field Trip game.
Below is the ful NAIA Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Top-25 Poll:
|
TREND
|
RANK
|
24-25
FINAL POLL
|
INSTITUTION [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] |
2024-25 RECORD |
POINTS |
| ● |
1 |
1 |
Dordt (Iowa) [20] |
35-2 |
600 |
| ▲ |
2 |
16 |
Bethel (Tenn.) |
27-8 |
560 |
| ● |
3 |
3 |
Campbellsville (Ky.) |
28-4 |
543 |
| ▲ |
4 |
8 |
Dakota State (S.D.) |
25-5 |
474 |
| ▲ |
5 |
12 |
Marian (Ind.) |
27-8 |
471 |
| ▲ |
6 |
7 |
Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) |
28-6 |
444 |
| ▲ |
7 |
25 |
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) |
26-7 |
411 |
| ▲ |
8 |
9 |
Saint Francis (Ind.) |
25-8 |
410 |
| ▲ |
9 |
13 |
Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) |
25-7 |
382 |
| ▼ |
10 |
4 |
Indiana Wesleyan |
34-3 |
369 |
| ▲ |
11 |
17 |
Langston (Okla.) |
31-3 |
359 |
| ▲ |
12 |
18 |
Hastings (Neb.) |
25-8 |
332 |
| ▼ |
13 |
10 |
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) |
28-4 |
308 |
| ▲ |
14 |
23 |
Oregon Tech |
23-8 |
281 |
| ▼ |
15 |
2 |
Southern Oregon |
34-1 |
279 |
| ▲ |
16 |
RV |
Carroll (Mont.) |
19-12 |
259 |
| ▲ |
17 |
RV |
Indiana Tech |
27-6 |
248 |
| ▼ |
18 |
14 |
Arizona Christian |
25-6 |
211 |
| ▲ |
19 |
RV |
St. Francis (Ill.) |
25-8 |
209 |
| ▼ |
20 |
5 |
Briar Cliff (Iowa) |
30-6 |
191 |
| ▲ |
21 |
RV |
Rocky Mountain (Mont.) |
20-11 |
172 |
| ▲ |
22 |
25 |
LSU Shreveport (La.) |
27-4 |
168 |
| ▲ |
23 |
RV |
Shawnee State (Ohio) |
28-5 |
146 |
| ▲ |
24 |
NR |
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) |
16-14 |
144 |
| ▼ |
25 |
5 |
Cumberlands (Ky.) |
26-6 |
140 |
Dropped from Top 25: Georgetown (Ky.), William Carey (Miss.), Rio Grande (Ohio), Wayland Baptist (Texas), Providence (Mont.), Xavier (La.), Mid-America Christian (Okla.)
Receiving Votes: Governors State (Ill.) 98, Loyola (La.) 94, Rio Grande (Ohio) 81, Georgetown (Ky.) 69, Providence (Mont.) 69, Florida Memorial 60, Pikeville (Ky.) 49, Columbia (Mo.) 34, Xavier (La.) 31, Southeastern (Fla.) 25, Montana Tech 19, Grand View (Iowa) 18, Evangel (Mo.) 17, William Carey (Miss.) 15, Huntington (Ind.) 15, College of Idaho 14, Wayland Baptist (Texas) 11, LSU Alexandria (La.) 10, Mid-America Christian (Okla.) 8, Morningside (Iowa) 6, Milligan (Tenn.) 4, Friends (Kan.) 4, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 3, Williams Baptist (Ark.) 2, Hope International (Calif.) 2
Be sure to visit www.carrollathletics.com for a full preview of the 2025-26 season, and to stay up to date with everything going on in Carroll Athletics.
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