NEW ORLEANS — For the second consecutive time, Xavier University of Louisiana women's basketball received 10 points in the NAIA Division I coaches poll. But the new rankings announced Wednesday placed the Gold Nuggets among the "others receiving votes" at 33rd, three spots lower than they were Dec. 4.
XULA (10-4) will play LeMoyne-Owen (5-8) of NCAA Division II at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at LOC's Bruce-Johnson Hall in Memphis, Tenn. It will be the Gold Nuggets' first game in 16 days. Then on Monday, XULA will open its Gulf Coast Athletic Conference schedule at 5:30 p.m. in the Convocation Center against Tougaloo.
The XULA women have won five of their last six games.
XULA was one of two GCAC teams to receive votes in this week's poll. The other was Talladega, whose No. 12 ranking is the highest for the GCAC since the Gold Nuggets were ninth on Dec. 8, 2015. Talladega's ranking is its highest since Jan. 28, 2014, when it was 11th.
Defending national champion Freed-Hardeman climbed from
second to first and received all nine first-place votes.
NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses — records through Dec. 31)
| RANK |
PREVIOUS |
SCHOOL |
RECORD |
POINTS |
| 1 |
2 |
Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) (9) |
12-0 |
219 |
| tie-2 |
4 |
Columbia (Mo.) |
9-2 |
205 |
| tie-2 |
6 |
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) |
11-1 |
205 |
| 4 |
9 |
Montana Western |
11-0 |
200 |
| 5 |
1 |
Vanguard (Calif.) |
11-2 |
193 |
| 6 |
3 |
Wayland Baptist (Texas) |
10-2 |
184 |
| 7 |
5 |
Campbellsville (Ky.) |
14-2 |
179 |
| tie-8 |
7 |
Shawnee State (Ohio) |
13-3 |
162 |
| tie-8 |
8 |
Carroll (Mont.) |
11-3 |
162 |
| 10 |
10 |
Oklahoma City |
11-1 |
157 |
| 11 |
14 |
Menlo (Calif.) |
11-2 |
154 |
| 12 |
15 |
Talladega (Ala.) |
14-2 |
133 |
| 13 |
13 |
Providence (Mont.) |
11-3 |
132 |
| 14 |
12 |
Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) |
11-4 |
127 |
| 15 |
11 |
Westmont (Calif.) |
9-4 |
126 |
| 16 |
RV |
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) |
11-2 |
112 |
| 17 |
16 |
Bethel (Tenn.) |
10-3 |
103 |
| 18 |
17 |
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) |
9-3 |
94 |
| 18 |
19 |
Lyon (Ark.) |
10-1 |
94 |
| 20 |
20 |
William Penn (Iowa) |
12-1 |
93 |
| 21 |
22 |
The Master's (Calif.) |
10-4 |
88 |
| 22 |
18 |
Rocky Mountain (Mont.) |
11-3 |
73 |
| 23 |
24 |
Central Methodist (Mo.) |
9-4 |
63 |
| 24 |
RV |
William Jessup (Calif.) |
12-2 |
48 |
| 25 |
RV |
LSU-Alexandria (La.) |
11-2 |
46 |
Dropped from the Top 25: No. 21 Arizona Christian, No. 23 Baker (Kan.), No. 25 Dillard (La.)
Others Receiving Votes: Mid-America Christian (Okla.) 29, Georgetown (Ky.) 28, Loyola (La.) 20, Baker (Kan.) 15, Arizona Christian 14, Huston-Tillotson (Texas) 13, William Woods (Mo.) 12, Xavier (La.) 10, Martin Methodist (Tenn.) 7, Evangel (Mo.) 4
