KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) unveiled the newest edition of its NAIA Women's Basketball Top 25 Coaches' Poll on Wednesday morning. For the first time in 2026, the Carroll Women's Basketball team appears inside the nation's Top-25, claiming the No. 25 spot on the bi-weekly poll.
Following a pair of polls in which they were the top receiving votes team in the nation, the Fighting Saints (16-8, 14-4) have once again worked their way back into the NAIA's Top-25, a position they are plenty accustomed to at this point in the season over recent years.
Carroll is one of four Frontier Conference teams appearing inside the Coaches' Poll, joining No. 6 Dakota State, No. 17 Montana Tech, and No. 23 Rocky Mountain College. Fellow Frontier foe MSU-Northern is just outside of the Top-25 as well, appearing in the receiving votes portion of the Poll.
With just four games remaining in the 2025-26 Frontier Conference regular season, the Saints sit tied with Montana Tech for second place in the league standings. No. 6 Dakota State owns the league's top spot, sitting two games clear of both the Saints and Orediggers.
This weekend's doubleheader will go a long ways towards deciding the Frontier title race, as well as postseason tournament seeding for the upcoming Frontier Conference Basketball Championship later this month in Butte. Carroll hosts both Providence and (RV) MSU-Northern for their final homestand of the year, before heading east for a pair at Mayville State and Valley City State in next week's season finale.
Carroll has now spent every week since the Preseason Poll of the 2017-18 season either ranked inside the Top-25 or in the receiving votes portion of the Poll.
The full NAIA Women's Basketball Coaches' Top-25 Poll is listed below:
| TREND |
RANK |
LAST TIME |
INSTITUTION [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] |
RECORD |
POINTS |
| ● |
1 |
1 |
Dordt (Iowa) [15] |
23-1 |
533 |
| ● |
2 |
2 |
Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) [4] |
22-2 |
516 |
| ● |
3 |
3 |
Bethel (Tenn.) |
22-3 |
508 |
| ▲ |
4 |
5 |
Marian (Ind.) |
22-2 |
459 |
| ▼ |
5 |
4 |
Campbellsville (Ky.) |
20-4 |
448 |
| ▲ |
6 |
7 |
Dakota State (S.D.) |
21-3 |
428 |
| ▼ |
7 |
6 |
Saint Francis (Ind.) |
22-2 |
427 |
| ● |
8 |
8 |
Rio Grande (Ohio) |
23-1 |
406 |
| ● |
9 |
9 |
Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) |
20-4 |
387 |
| ▲ |
10 |
11 |
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) |
19-3 |
319 |
| ▼ |
11 |
10 |
Concordia (Neb.) |
19-5 |
316 |
| ● |
12 |
12 |
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) |
18-6 |
308 |
| ▲ |
13 |
24 |
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) |
20-4 |
306 |
| ▲ |
14 |
15 |
Eastern Oregon |
21-3 |
265 |
| ▲ |
15 |
17 |
Evangel (Mo.) |
20-2 |
241 |
| ▲ |
16 |
18 |
Spring Arbor (Mich.) |
20-4 |
220 |
| ▼ |
17 |
13 |
Montana Tech |
18-4 |
219 |
| ▼ |
18 |
14 |
William Carey (Miss.) |
20-2 |
165 |
| ▲ |
19 |
RV |
Loyola (La.) |
20-2 |
164 |
| ▲ |
20 |
RV |
Langston (Okla.) |
22-2 |
134 |
| ▼ |
21 |
15 |
Cumberlands (Ky.) |
17-8 |
131 |
| ▼ |
22 |
20 |
Friends (Kan.) |
20-4 |
121 |
| ● |
23 |
23 |
Rocky Mountain (Mont.) |
16-8 |
103 |
| ▲ |
24 |
25 |
Indiana Tech |
20-4 |
80 |
| ▲ |
25 |
RV |
Carroll (Mont.) |
16-8 |
75 |
Dropped from the Top 25: Corban (Ore.), Briar Cliff (Iowa), St. Francis (Ill.)
Receiving Votes: Corban (Ore.) 73, Briar Cliff (Iowa) 69, Southeastern (Fla.) 66, Southern Oregon 65, St. Francis (Ill.) 62, Hastings (Neb.) 59, LSU Shreveport (La.) 50, Tennessee Southern 46, Huntington (Ind.) 39, Mid-America Christian (Okla.) 37, Georgetown (Ky.) 31, Columbia (Mo.) 24, Montana State-Northern 14, Taylor (Ind.) 13, Benedictine (Kan.) 10, Oregon Tech 6, Cumberland (Tenn.) 3, The College of Idaho 2, Grand View (Iowa) 2, Indiana Wesleyan 2
Poll Methodology
- The national poll is for publicity purposes only and does not influence the selection process for national championship consideration.
- A panel of head coaches representing each conference and the Continental Athletic Conference (Independents) votes in the poll.
- The Top 25 teams are selected using a points-based system:
- 30 points for a 1st-place vote, 29 for 2nd, 28 for 3rd, and so on.
- The highest and lowest rankings received by each team are discarded before final tallying.
- Teams receiving only one point are not listed as "receiving votes."
- For the Preseason Poll, there is no "previous ranking" column since it is the initial poll and differs from the prior rating system.
Key: RV - Receiving Votes, NR - Not Ranked, ▲- Climbed, ▼- Dropped, ● - Steady
Be sure to visit www.carrollathletics.com to continue to stay up to date with everything going on in Carroll Athletics.
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