KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Carroll College leads five Frontier Conference teams in the latest NAIA women's basketball top 25 poll, which was released Wednesday.
Prior to their win at Rocky Mountain College on Wednesday night, the Saints had climbed from 25th to No. 17 in the rankings. They're the highest-ranked team from the Frontier Conference, which also features Montana State-Northern, Rocky, Montana Western and Lewis-Clark State in the poll.
Rachelle Sayers' Carroll squad has won five consecutive games and is now 12-5 after Wednesday's win. The Saints have a huge game with Montana Western on Friday in Helena.
Northern is 18th in this week's poll, slipping from its previous No. 11 ranking. Chris Mouat's Lights are 13-3, but they've lost their past two games -- a 63-49 home loss to Carroll and a 68-64 at Providence. MSUN is at Lewis-Clark State on Thursday.
Rocky held at No. 20 in the poll. Prior to Wednesday's loss to Carroll, the Battlin' Bears had won six consecutive games under coach Wes Keller. They're 12-4 after the loss to Carroll with a game against Montana Western looming on Saturday.
Lindsay Woolley's Bulldogs inched up the rankings this week to No. 22. They were 24th last week. It's been a bit of an up-and-down season so far for the Bulldogs, who won the NAIA national championship last year, but they've won their past three games to get to 10-5, including wins over then-No. 13 Lewis-Clark and Montana Tech, which was receiving votes at the time. Western kicks off a difficult three-game stretch at Carroll on Friday before a home game against Rocky on Saturday and a trip to now-No. 25 Lewis-Clark on Jan. 23.
The Master's (Calif.) is the new top-ranked team, climbing up from No. 3 in the last poll. Oklahoma City is second, and Campbellsville (Ky.) fell from first to third. Westmont (Calif.) and Vanguard (Calif.) round out the top five of the poll, which is below.
2019-20 NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll
| RANK | LAST TIME | SCHOOL [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] | RECORD | POINTS |
| 1 | 3 | The Master's (Calif.) [5] | 18-0 | 216 |
| 2 | 2 | Oklahoma City [4] | 13-0 | 215 |
| 3 | 1 | Campbellsville (Ky.) | 18-1 | 205 |
| 4 | 4 | Westmont (Calif.) | 13-2 | 195 |
| 5 | 5 | Vanguard (Calif.) | 10-2 | 190 |
| 6 | 6 | Wayland Baptist (Texas) | 12-2 | 182 |
| 7 | 7 | Shawnee State (Ohio) | 18-2 | 177 |
| 8 | 8 | Central Methodist (Mo.) | 14-1 | 175 |
| 9 | 15 | Bethel (Tenn.) | 14-4 | 163 |
| 10 | 18 | Lyon (Ark.) | 14-1 | 150 |
| 11 | 10 | Talladega (Ala.) | 13-4 | 144 |
| 12 | 14 | Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) | 15-3 | 143 |
| 13 | 9 | Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) | 11-5 | 135 |
| 14 | 17 | Loyola (La.) | 11-3 | 129 |
| 15 | 12 | Columbia (Mo.) | 12-3 | 123 |
| 16 | 16 | Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) | 13-5 | 120 |
| 17 | 25 | Carroll (Mont.) | 11-5 | 108 |
| 18 | 11 | Montana State-Northern | 13-3 | 102 |
| 19 | 23 | Grand View (Iowa) | 12-3 | 88 |
| 20 | 20 | Rocky Mountain (Mont.) | 12-3 | 83 |
| 21 | NR | Clarke (Iowa) | 14-3 | 77 |
| 22 | 24 | Montana Western | 10-5 | 63 |
| 23 | NR | LSU Shreveport (La.) | 12-3 | 56 |
| 24 | NR | Martin Methodist (Tenn.) | 11-4 | 50 |
| 25 | 13 | Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) | 9-5 | 48 |
Receiving Votes: Benedictine (Kan.) 45, William Penn (Iowa) 31, MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 25, Mid-American Christian (Okla.) 17, Philander Smith (Ark.) 13, Rust (Miss.) 9, Lindenwood Belleville (Ill.) 7, Cumberlands (Ky.) 6, Pikeville (Ky.) 5, LSU Alexandria (La.) 5.
