Skylights hold strong at No. 11 in new poll

For the third straight week, the Montana State University-Northern women's basketball team stayed put in the NAIA Top 25.

In the new NAIA Women's Coaches Poll, released Tuesday afternoon, the Skylights remained at No. 11. Northern comes off of last weekend's sweep of Rocky Mountain College and then No. 18 Carroll College. Northern improved to 23-3 overall and 9-2 in the Frontier Conference. The Skylights also have a two-game lead on third-place UGF and Carroll and sit just a game behind first-place Westminster.

The Griffins moved up one spot in this week's poll, to No. 3. That sets up Saturday's NAIA Game of the Week between the Skylights and Griffins in Salt Lake City. Westminster beat Northern in double overtime last month in Havre. Carroll dropped just one spot to No. 19 in the new poll, while UGF lost twice this past weekend, but slid just two spots to No. 22. The Frontier still has five teams ranked in the Top 25, with Lewis-Clark State coming in at No. 25.

On the men's side, UM-Western moved up three spots to No. 12 in the new NAIA Men's Coaches Poll. LC State also moved back into the Top 25 this week, jumping up to No. 21. Great Falls fell out of the poll for the first time since Frontier play began.

This past week also saw UM-Western's Dexter Williams Jr. earn Frontier Conference Men's Player of the Week honors, while LC State senior Tanis Fuller was named Women's Player of the Week. Northern's Corbin Pearson and Natalee Faupel were nominated for the awards.

NAIA Women's Coaches Poll

Rn. Prv. Rec. Pts.

1 1 Freed-Hardeman 25-1 250

2 2 Oklahoma City 18-2 241

3 4 Westminster (Utah) 19-2 230

4 3 Campbellsville (Ky.) 24-2 229

5 5 Bethel (Tenn.) 24-2 220

6 8 Concordia (Calif.) 19-4 203

7 10 Oklahoma Baptist 19-4 197

8 9 Vanguard (Calif.) 18-5 195

9 6 Loyola (La.) 21-2 187

10 7 Langston (Okla.) 22-2 186

11 11 MSU-Northern 24-3 169

T12 14 Our Lady of the Lake 20-5 154

T12 13 MidAmerica Nazarene 20-5 154

14 12 Wiley (Texas) 19-2 148

15 16 Westmont (Calif.) 20-5 138

16 15 The Master's (Calif.) 18-7 137

17 17 Lyon (Ark.) 22-4 121

18 19 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 21-6 113

19 18 Carroll (Mont.) 16-8 108

20 21 Shawnee State (Ohio) 18-8 82

21 22 Martin Methodist 22-4 79

22 20 Great Falls (Mont.) 20-6 78

23 RV Pikeville (Ky.) 22-6 77

24 25 Wayland Baptist 15-9 72

25 24 Lewis-Clark State 19-7 64

Others receiving votes: Benedictine (Kan.) 47; Texas Wesleyan 38; Southern-New Orleans (La.) 30; Baker (Kan.) 23; William Woods (Mo.) 17; Culver-Stockton (Mo.) 7; Cumberland (Tenn.) 7; Columbia (Mo.) 5.

NAIA Men's Coaches Poll

Rn. Prv. Rec. Pts.

1 2 Talladega (Ala.) (7) 23-3 248

2 3 Freed-Hardeman (2) 23-2 241

3 4 Pikeville (Ky.) (1) 24-2 234

T4 1 Cal State San Marcos 24-3 223

T4 5 Hope International 22-2 223

6 8 Dalton State (Ga.) 22-3 209

7 10 Concordia (Calif.) 22-5 203

8 9 Georgetown (Ky.) 22-4 189

9 12 Columbia (Mo.) 22-4 173

10 6 Campbellsville (Ky.) 22-5 171

11 7 Arizona Christian 21-6 165

12 15 Montana Western 19-6 157

13 12 Martin Methodist 21-4 156

14 16 Mid-America Christian 18-8 149

15 18 Wayland Baptist) 21-4 144

16 14 LSU Alexandria 15-3 136

17 11 Benedictine (Kan.) 20-6 126

18 22 Evangel (Mo.) 16-9 120

19 21 Our Lady of the Lake 18-4 102

20 17 Xavier (La.) 19-8 101

21 RV Lewis-Clark State 20-6 93

22 19 Bethel (Tenn.) 20-6 78

23 25 Cumberlands (Ky.) 19-7 60

24 23 Oklahoma City 13-7 53

25 RV Westmont (Calif.) 17-8 49

Others Receiving Votes: SAGU (Texas) 48; Philander Smith (Ark.) 36; Carroll (Mont.) 32; Central Methodist (Mo.) 29; Wiley (Texas) 25; William Carey (Miss.) 10; LSU Shreveport (La.) 5; Great Falls (Mont.) 3; Missouri Valley 3.