KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Montana Western climbed to No. 3, leading five Frontier Conference teams in the NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll. The latest edition of the rankings was released Tuesday.
Western was ranked fourth in the previous rankings and climbed up one spot despite suffering its first loss of the season — at 61-50 setback to then-No. 13 University of Providence — on Jan. 5. The Bulldogs have bounced back with wins over Rocky Mountain College and Carroll College, who are ranked 22nd and eighth, respectively, at the time. At 14-1 overall and 5-1 in conference, Western is tied atop the league standings with Carroll. Brianna King has been named the Frontier Conference player of the week four consecutive weeks.
Carroll (13-4, 5-1) held its No. 8 ranking in the top 25, while Rocky Mountain College (13-5, 4-2) moved up to No. 17. Lewis-Clark State (13-4, 3-3) slipped two spots to 18th, and Providence (13-5, 2-4) slid seven spots to No. 20. The Argos got the impressive win over Western on Jan. 5, but they’re just 2-2 in their past four, losing games to Lewis-Clark and Montana Tech.
Undefeated Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) maintained its No. 1 ranking, receiving all nine first-place votes. Columbia (Mo.) is second, MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) fourth and Wayland Baptist (Texas) fifth. To view the complete NAIA women’s basketball top 25, please click here.
The Frontier Conference returns to action Tuesday with Carroll hosting Montana Tech. The rest of the league takes the court on Thursday with Western hosting Montana State-Northern, Rocky hosting Carroll and Lewis-Clark hosting Providence.
