KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Thomas More lands at No. 1 in the final edition of the 2020-21 NAIA Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll, released Wednesday by the NAIA office. The Saints hold the No. 1 spot for the second consecutive week.
Lewis-Clark State College closed out the unusual year at No. 22, moving up two spots from the last poll. The Warriors won the revised Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament Championship, presented by U.S. Bank, to grab the conference’s automatic qualifier for the NAIA National Championship. LC State will host the opening round of the tournament.
| RANK |
LAST TIME |
SCHOOL [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] |
RECORDS |
POINTS |
| 1 |
1 |
Thomas More (Ky.) [14] |
22-1 |
581 |
| 2 |
2 |
Wayland Baptist (Texas) [4] |
10-0 |
567 |
| 3 |
3 |
Campbellsville (Ky.) |
16-1 |
546 |
| 4 |
4 |
Westmont (Calif.) [3] |
8-1 |
542 |
| 5 |
4 |
Marian (Ind.) |
24-4 |
518 |
| 6 |
6 |
Carroll (Mont.) |
19-2 |
493 |
| 7 |
7 |
Morningside (Iowa) |
23-2 |
479 |
| 8 |
8 |
Clarke (Iowa) |
18-2 |
444 |
| 9 |
10 |
Sterling (Kan.) |
24-0 |
430 |
| 10 |
11 |
Southeastern (Fla.) |
22-2 |
427 |
| 11 |
13 |
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) |
18-4 |
401 |
| 12 |
15 |
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) |
16-3 |
381 |
| 13 |
9 |
Indiana Tech |
22-2 |
352 |
| 14 |
17 |
Dakota State (S.D.) |
22-3 |
332 |
| 15 |
12 |
Vanguard (Calif.) |
5-4 |
320 |
| 16 |
20 |
St. Francis (Ill.) |
21-4 |
300 |
| 17 |
22 |
Concordia (Neb.) |
18-7 |
238 |
| 18 |
21 |
Lyon (Ark.) |
10-1 |
236 |
| 19 |
19 |
Saint Xavier (Ill.) |
14-2 |
232 |
| 20 |
16 |
Indiana Wesleyan |
19-6 |
219 |
| 21 |
23 |
Loyola (La.) |
17-1 |
204 |
| 22 |
24 |
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) |
12-5 |
181 |
| 23 |
14 |
Oklahoma City |
4-0 |
175 |
| 24 |
NR |
Cumberlands (Ky.) |
14-4 |
142 |
| 25 |
NR |
Mid-America Christian (Okla.) |
9-1 |
136 |
Dropped from the Poll: Shawnee State (Ohio), College of the Ozarks (Mo.)
Receiving Votes: Shawnee State (Ohio) 97, Rust (Miss.) 86, College of the Ozarks (Mo.) 83, Providence (Mont.) 66, Grand View (Iowa) 40, Bryan (Tenn.) 24, Northwestern (Iowa) 22, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 16, Montana Western 14, Columbia (Mo.) 14, Central Methodist (Mo.) 13, Talladega (Ala.) 10, LSU Shreveport (La.) 9, Science & Arts of Oklahoma 6, Benedictine (Kan.) 3
Poll Methodology:
- The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and Association of Independent Institutions.
- The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter ranks the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second place and so on through the list.
- The highest and lowest ranking for each team (a non-rating is considered a low ratings) is removed and the team’s ranking will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the teams appears on.
- Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes”
- Frequency of polls occur bi-weekly. This policy was approved by the National Administrative Council (NAC) beginning in the 2016-17 academic season. This change will allow raters the opportunity to consider a larger body of work in between rating periods.
- For the complete Top 25 calendar, click here.