October 22, 2025
MADISON, S.D. – The wait is over; the 2025-26 NAIA Women's Basketball season tips off Thursday (Oct. 23). The NAIA national office announced the Women's Basketball Coaches' Preseason Top 25 poll Wednesday morning.
Dakota State (S.D.) hit the highest ranking in the NAIA Division I era program history, earning a No. 4 ranking after earning 474 points in the poll. The Trojans were 25-5 overall record last season, notching their fifth straight North Star Athletic Association regular season title. DSU also advanced to the NAIA National Tournament for the fifth consecutive year, falling short in the Second Round of the national tournament.
Dakota State was ranked inside the NAIA's Top 10 throughout the 2024-25 season, ranking as high as No. 6 in last year NAIA preseason poll. The Trojans' previous high ranking was No. 5 during the 2007-08 season where they were in the NAIA Division II basketball era.
The new-look Frontier Conference, expanding to 12 teams, has four other teams in the NAIA's Top 25 national poll. Carroll (Mont.) was ranked at No. 16 with 259 points, followed by Rocky Mountain (Mont.) at No. 21 with 172 points. Providence (Mont.) (69 points) and Montana Tech (19 points) were listed in the receiving votes (RV) section of the national poll.
DSU was the coaches' pick to win the 2025-26 Frontier Conference Women's Basketball title this season, collecting 11 first place votes and 121 points.
Dakota State makes their 2025-26 season debut under ninth-year head coach
David Moe Monday afternoon in the Education Kick-off Classic at Madison High School. The Trojans welcome Minnesota-Morris with a tip-off at 1 p.m.
After playing a pair of games in the Coyote Classic next weekend, DSU will face two-time defending national champion and current preseason No. 1 ranked Dordt (Iowa) at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Tuesday, Nov. 11 at 5:30 p.m.
The poll is publicity purposes only and has no weight or bearing in the selection process for national championship field consideration. A panel of head coaches representing each conference, and the Continental Athletic Conference (Independents) voted in the poll.
The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter votes the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place, 28 for third-place, and so on through the list.
Below is the complete ranking of the 2025-26 NAIA Women's Basketball Coaches' Preseason Top 25 poll:
| TREND |
RANK |
24-25
FINAL POLL |
INSTITUTION [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] |
2024-25 RECORD |
POINTS |
| ? |
1 |
1 |
Dordt (Iowa) [20] |
35-2 |
600 |
| ? |
2 |
16 |
Bethel (Tenn.) |
27-8 |
560 |
| ? |
3 |
3 |
Campbellsville (Ky.) |
28-4 |
543 |
| ? |
4 |
8 |
Dakota State (S.D.) |
25-5 |
474 |
| ? |
5 |
12 |
Marian (Ind.) |
27-8 |
471 |
| ? |
6 |
7 |
Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) |
28-6 |
444 |
| ? |
7 |
25 |
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) |
26-7 |
411 |
| ? |
8 |
9 |
Saint Francis (Ind.) |
25-8 |
410 |
| ? |
9 |
13 |
Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) |
25-7 |
382 |
| ? |
10 |
4 |
Indiana Wesleyan |
34-3 |
369 |
| ? |
11 |
17 |
Langston (Okla.) |
31-3 |
359 |
| ? |
12 |
18 |
Hastings (Neb.) |
25-8 |
332 |
| ? |
13 |
10 |
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) |
28-4 |
308 |
| ? |
14 |
23 |
Oregon Tech |
23-8 |
281 |
| ? |
15 |
2 |
Southern Oregon |
34-1 |
279 |
| ? |
16 |
RV |
Carroll (Mont.) |
19-12 |
259 |
| ? |
17 |
RV |
Indiana Tech |
27-6 |
248 |
| ? |
18 |
14 |
Arizona Christian |
25-6 |
211 |
| ? |
19 |
RV |
St. Francis (Ill.) |
25-8 |
209 |
| ? |
20 |
5 |
Briar Cliff (Iowa) |
30-6 |
191 |
| ? |
21 |
RV |
Rocky Mountain (Mont.) |
20-11 |
172 |
| ? |
22 |
25 |
LSU Shreveport (La.) |
27-4 |
168 |
| ? |
23 |
RV |
Shawnee State (Ohio) |
28-5 |
146 |
| ? |
24 |
NR |
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) |
16-14 |
144 |
| ? |
25 |
5 |
Cumberlands (Ky.) |
26-6 |
140 |
Dropped from Top 25: Georgetown (Ky.), William Carey (Miss.), Rio Grande (Ohio), Wayland Baptist (Texas), Providence (Mont.), Xavier (La.), Mid-America Christian (Okla.)
Receiving Votes: Governors State (Ill.) 98, Loyola (La.) 94, Rio Grande (Ohio) 81, Georgetown (Ky.) 69, Providence (Mont.) 69, Florida Memorial 60, Pikeville (Ky.) 49, Columbia (Mo.) 34, Xavier (La.) 31, Southeastern (Fla.) 25, Montana Tech 19, Grand View (Iowa) 18, Evangel (Mo.) 17, William Carey (Miss.) 15, Huntington (Ind.) 15, College of Idaho 14, Wayland Baptist (Texas) 11, LSU Alexandria (La.) 10, Mid-America Christian (Okla.) 8, Morningside (Iowa) 6, Milligan (Tenn.) 4, Friends (Kan.) 4, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 3, Williams Baptist (Ark.) 2, Hope International (Calif.) 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
