Haskell Indian Nations University Women’s Basketball Debut at No. 18 in the Nation in the First Official NAIA National Rankings

KANSAS CITY Mo. – The Haskell Indian Nations University women’s basketball team debut today at No. 18 in the first official NAIA Divisino II women’s basketball coaches poll. The Lady Indians (9-2) are off to another great to start to the season behind the trio of Arnetia Begay (Navajo), Kortney Meat (Cheyenne/Arapaho), and Tyler Sumpter (Paiute).

Morningside (Iowa) continues its stay at the top in the first regular-season installment of the 2015 NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Preseason Top 25 Poll, the national office announced on Tuesday. The second regular-season installment will be released on Tuesday, Dec. 8.

Top 25 Highlights

• Morningside (Iowa) continues to stay on top of the poll this week, receiving all 12 first-place votes and 312 points.  Behind is Saint Xavier (Ill.) who moved up from third place last edition with 302 total points.
• No. 3 Hastings (Neb.) make their way into the top five after receiving votes in the previous poll.  Hastings is 9-0 this season.
• Five teams make their way into the Top 25 Poll after not being ranked including in the preseason including: No. 13 Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), No. 13 St. Francis (Ill.), No. 16 Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.), No. 19 Bryan (Tenn.) and No. 22 Dickinson State (N.D.)
• Four teams that were receiving votes in the preseason poll have entered the Top 25 this week including: No. 18 Haskell (Kan.), No. 23 IU Northwest, No. 24 Kansas Wesleyan and No. 25 Oregon Tech.
• The Great Plains Athletic Conference has the most schools appearing in the Top 25 with five: Morningside, Hastings, Briar Cliff, No. 9 Concordia (Neb.) and Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.). With four teams are the Crossroads League and Chicagoland Colligate Athletic Conference.
• Six teams continue their season with a perfect record including the top three, Morningside (8-0), Saint Xavier (9-0), and Hastings (9-0), No. 13 St. Francis (7-0), No. 15 Southern Oregon (5-0) and No. 19 Bryan (Tenn.) (9-0) finish out the six teams.
• No. 5 Indiana Wesleyan has the most No. 1 rankings in NAIA history with 33. Morningside is right behind with 22.
• Morningside has the most active Top 25 appearances with 115.  College of the Ozarks (Mo.) is only seven behind with 108.
• College of the Ozarks, Morningside and Saint Francis (Ind.) are the only teams to be ranked No. 1 for an entire season. College of the Ozarks in 2007-08 season, Morningside in 2008-09 and Saint Francis in 1999-2000.

Poll Methodology
• The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and the 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”
• For the complete Top 25 calendar, click here.

2015-16 NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Preseason Poll (Oct. 27)