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Lights, Skylights both rise in NAIA Polls

When the Montana State University-Northern men’s and women’s basketball teams step on the floor Thursday night for their first Frontier Conference home games of the new year, both teams will be holding high national rankings.

In the latest NAIA Men’s and Women’s Coaches polls, released Tuesday afternoon, the Skylights climbed from No. 24 to No. 28, while the Lights moved up one spot to No. 15.

The Northern women are coming off an impressive weekend sweep at Rocky Mountain College and Dickinson State, and the Skylights now sit at 13-2 on the season, as well as undefeated in Frontier play. MSU-N is one of three teams ranked in the Top 25, with Westminster holding steady at No. 4, while Lewis-Clark State moved into the poll at No. 23. After an 0-3 start, Carroll College dropped out of the poll completely.

The Lights earned a split with RMC and DSU last weekend, but still moved up a notch, thanks in large part to a stellar 14-3 overall record. RMC remained No. 10 in the new poll, while UM-Western and Westminster College received votes this week.

There were plenty of changes in each of the polls, as the last polls were released on Dec. 16. From here on out though, there will be a Coaches Poll released each week. In the new Frontier Power Index, the MSU-N women are No. 2 behind Westminster, while the Lights are No. 2 behind RMC.

The Skylights and Lights host Western Thursday night and Westminster on Saturday night.

NAIA Women's Coaches Poll

Rn. Prv. Rec. Pts

1 1 Vanguard (Calif.) (10) 11-0 250

2 3 Freed-Hardeman 12-0 242

3 2 Oklahoma City 6-1 232

4 4 Westminster (Utah) 9-2 221

T5 6 MidAmerica Naz. 11-1 217

T5 7 Campbellsville (Ky.) 13-1 217

7 9 Oklahoma Baptist 10-2 193

8 5 Georgetown (Ky.) 8-3 192

9 12 The Master's (Calif.) 11-3 190

10 10 Bethel (Tenn.) 10-4 179

11 11 Our Lady of the Lake 9-1 162

12 13 Talladega (Ala.) 12-1 160

13 8 Westmont (Calif.) 8-4 158

14 15 Benedictine (Kan.) 11-4 154

15 14 Coastal Georgia 14-0 144

16 17 John Brown (Ark.) 11-1 128

17 18 Wiley (Texas) 11-1 124

18 24 MSU-Northern 13-2 104

19 21 Columbia (Mo.) 8-4 100

20 22 Cumberland (Tenn.) 7-5 95

21 20 Cumberlands (Ky.) 7-5 85

22 23 Emmanuel (Ga.) 10-3 81

23 RV Lewis-Clark State 16-1 80

24 RV Hope International 10-3 67

25 25 William Woods (Mo.) 8-3 48

Others receiving votes: Mid-America Christian (Okla.) 46; LSU Shreveport (La.) 31; Baker (Kan.) 21; Southern-New Orleans (La.) 21; Martin Methodist (Tenn.) 16; San Diego Christian (Calif.) 10; Central Methodist (Mo.) 9; Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 6; Xavier (La.) 5.

NAIA Men's Coaches Poll

Rn. Prv. Rec. Pts

1 T3 Pikeville (Ky.) (6) 12-1 247

2 T3 SAGU (Texas) (1) 9-1 239

3 1 Columbia (Mo.) (3) 13-1 238

4 8 Cal State San Marcos 17-1 228

5 12 Concordia (Calif.) 13-2 212

6 5 Evangel (Mo.) 12-3 201

7 11 Talladega (Ala.) 14-2 194

8 6 Arizona Christian 13-1 183

9 9 William Carey (Miss.) 8-2 181

10 10 Rocky Mountain 12-3 180

11 15 Freed-Hardeman 8-0 179

12 19 St. Gregory's (Okla.) 11-1 178

13 2 Georgetown (Ky.) 11-3 153

14 T20 Wiley (Texas) 9-1 148

T15 13 Benedictine (Kan.) 10-3 133

T15 16 MSU-Northern 14-3 133

17 14 Philander Smith (Ark.) 11-5 110

18 RV Mid-America Christian 7-3 101

19 18 Culver-Stockton (Mo.) 10-3 97

20 24 Martin Methodist 8-4 95

21 RV Vanguard (Calif.) 13-2 94

22 7 John Brown (Ark.) 11-2 80

23 RV St. Catharine (Ky.) 9-4 77

24 25 Xavier (La.) 11-4 64

25 17 Faulkner (Ala.) 9-5 59

Others receiving votes: Hope International (Calif.) 50; Cumberland (Tenn.) 37; Westminster (Utah) 33; Emmanuel (Ga.) 30; Graceland (Iowa) 21; Montana Western 8; Oklahoma Baptist 4; MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 3.

 

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