KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) hhas officially released its 2-26=27 Preseason NAIA Women's Basketball Coaches' Poll. Carroll College will begin the season as the nation's No. 24-ranked team.
With the official start of the 2026-27 NAIA Women's Basketball season just one day away, the association has officially released its annual Preseason Coaches' Top-25 Poll. The Fighting Saints find themselves in familiar territory, once again appearing inside the national ranks.
After finishing the 2025-26 season in the receiving votes portion of the NAIA Poll, and coming up one win shy of a 20-win season, the Saints have found themselves back in the national conversation to start the year. Carroll enters the year at No. 24 in the nation, continuing a six-year streak of appearing inside the Top-25 in the annual Preseason Poll.
The Saints have been either ranked or receiving votes in every single NAIA Coaches' Poll since the NAIA Division I and Division II merger in 2019.
Carroll is one of four Frontier Conference teams to appear inside the Top-25. Dakota State begins the year at No. 3 in the NAIA, followed by Rocky at No. 12, and Montana Tech at No. 16.
The Saints begin their 2026 campaign at the Northwest Crossover Tournament on Saturday afternoon in Washington, taking on an Eastern Oregon team that appears in the receiving votes category of the initial Poll.
Below is the full 2026-27 NAIA Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Top-25 Poll:
| RANK |
INSTITUITION [FIRST-PLACEVOTES] |
2025-26 RECORD |
| 1 |
Marian (Ind.) [4] |
35-2 |
| 2 |
Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) [5] |
29-7 |
| 3 |
Dakota State (S.D.) |
30-6 |
| 4 |
Bethel (Tenn.) [7] |
28-6 |
| 5 |
Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) |
29-4 |
| 6 |
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) |
23-9 |
| 7 |
Dordt (Iowa) [1] |
34-3 |
| 8 |
Campbellsville (Ky.) |
25-8 |
| 9 |
Saint Francis (Ind.) [2] |
30-5 |
| 10 |
Concordia (Neb.) |
23-8 |
| 11 |
Georgetown (Ky.) |
25-9 |
| 12 |
Rocky Mountain (Mont.) |
21-10 |
| 13 |
Rio Grande (Ohio) |
31-2 |
| 14 |
Indiana Wesleyan |
19-14 |
| 15 |
Benedictine (Kan.) |
24-8 |
| 16 |
Montana Tech |
26-5 |
| 17 |
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) |
28-4 |
| 18 |
Hastings (Neb.) |
24-9 |
| 19 |
Loyola (La.) |
25-5 |
| 20 |
College of the Ozarks (Mo.) |
25-11 |
| 21 |
Southeastern (Fla.) |
28-4 |
| 22 |
College of Idaho |
22-9 |
| 23 |
Oregon Tech |
19-12 |
| 24 |
Carroll (Mont.) |
19-11 |
| 25 |
Spring Arbor (Mich.) |
24-8 |
Receiving Votes: Bethel (Ind.), Bethel (Kan.), Columbia (Mo.), Corban (Ore.), Cumberland (Tenn.), Cumberlands (Ky.), Eastern Oregon, Evangel (Mo.), Faulkner (Ala.), Friends (Kan.), Huntington (Ind.), Indiana Tech, IU South Bend (Ind.), Langston (Okla.), Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), LSU Shreveport (La.), Mid-America Christian (Okla.), Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), St. Francis (Ill.), William Carey (Miss.), Williams Baptist (Ark.)
Be sure to visit www.carrollathletics.com for a preview of the 2026-27 Women's Basketball season later this week, and for complete coverage of the Fighting Saints all season long.
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