2/8/2010 6:05:27 PM
SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster women’s basketball team remained ranked No. 14 for a third consecutive week in the NAIA DI Women's Basketball Top 25 Poll that was released this afternoon. Westminster received 185 points in the poll, setting a school record for most points received in a poll. This is the seventh consecutive poll that Westminster has been ranked inside the top 25 and the 37th consecutive week they have received votes.
The Griffins went 2-0 last week, picking up road wins at Great Falls and Montana State-Northern. They are now 19-5 on the season and are 8-1 in the Frontier Conference. Westminster welcomes Montana Western and Montana Tech into the Behnken Field House on Thursday and Saturday respectively.
Union (Tenn.) remains at No. 1 for the 33rd straight poll. The Lady Bulldogs received 312 points and all 12 first-place votes in the NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, the NAIA announced on Monday. Saint Xavier (Ill.) moves up one spot to No. 2, which ties its highest ranking in the poll dating back to earlier in the year. Vanguard moves up two spots to No. 3, while No. 4 Oklahoma Baptist and No. 5 Point Loma Nazarene University (Calif.) round out the rest of the top five.
Union (23-1, 10-0 TranSouth Athletic Conference) went 2-0 last week in TranSouth action. The Lady Bulldogs notched wins over Bethel (Tenn.) on the road, 85-70, Feb. 4 and 103-69 at home over Martin Methodist (Tenn.) on Feb. 6. Junior point guard Kayla Hudson scored 18 points in the win over Bethel and recorded the 1,000th point of her career on a 3-point basket to start the game.
Saint Xavier (23-1, 6-1 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference) avenged its only loss of the season, defeating St. Francis (Ill.), 83-78 at home on Feb. 6. The Cougars fell to the Fighting Saints 77-72 on Jan. 12 in their CCAC opener. Junior guards Alex Barone and Shalonda Young each scored 15 points to lead the Cougars.
Vanguard (15-2, 11-2 Golden State Athletic Conference) moves up to No. 3 after blowing out then-ranked No. 2 Point Loma Nazarene, 70-53, at home on Feb. 2 in GSAC play. The Lions followed up their win with an 11-point victory over then-ranked No. 20 Biola (Calif.), 89-78 on Feb. 6. Junior forward Molly Pfohl led the Lions averaging 17 points and eight rebounds in the two contests.
Oklahoma Baptist (20-2, 13-1 Sooner Athletic Conference) went 2-0 at home in SAC play last week, recording wins over Wayland Baptist (Texas) on Feb. 4 and then-ranked No. 22 Lubbock Christian (Texas) on Feb. 6. The Lady Bison held Wayland Baptist to just 25% shooting on their way to a 72-51 win and used a 12-0 run with 5:44 left in the game to put away Lubbock Christian, 73-62.
Point Loma Nazarene (21-2, 12-2 GSAC) suffered its second loss of the season on the road at then-ranked No. 5 Vanguard, 70-53, on Feb. 2. Point Loma went 1-of-14 from beyond the arc and was dominated on the boards, 46-31. The Sea Lions bounced back at home with a 71-47 win over Fresno Pacific (Calif.) on Feb. 6.
Eleven schools ranked No. 6 to No. 16 did not move from their previous week’s ranking. No. 25 Evangel (Mo.) is the only school to join the rankings this week. The Lady Crusaders were last ranked on Oct. 26, 2009 at No. 24 in the preseason poll.
Eleven conferences are represented by teams in the poll. The TranSouth, GSAC, and SAC lead all conferences with four ranked schools each. The eleven conferences represented are the most since the preseason poll on Oct. 26, 2009.
The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and independents. The eighth regular season Top 25 poll will be announced on Feb. 15.
NOTES: Union, Saint Xavier and No. 8 Campbellsville (Ky.) lead all schools for the most victories and fewest losses in Division I this season with 23 wins and one loss each… Union has been ranked No. 1 for 33 consecutive weeks dating back to Oct. 31, 2007… According to available records, Union has the longest active streak at No. 1 in DI women’s basketball.