KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Westmont lands at No. 1 in the latest edition of the 2021-22 NAIA Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll.
The Dordt Defenders, ranked #16, are off to a 5-1 start and have won four in a row since a setback at Grand View in late October. The Defenders most recently won a pair of games at a classic hosted by Northwestern on Friday and Saturday, November 12 and 13 including a win over then no. 4 Marian (Indiana).
The Defenders are scheduled to face no. 12 Morningside on the road on Wednesday, November 17 and will host no. 21 Concordia on Saturday, November 20 and will cap the very challenging stretch with a game against Briar Cliff in Sioux City, Iowa on Tuesday, November 23. Briar Cliff is currently in the receiving votes category of the poll.
The #17 Raiders are off to a hot start on the early season with two wins against ranked opponents in then No. 11-MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.) and No. 4-Marian University (Ind.). Northwestern will begin Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) play tonight at the College of Saint Mary in Omaha, Neb. with tip off set for 6:00 p.m.
The Raiders tallied 280 points in the first poll of the regular season, 25 points behind fellow GPAC member Dordt University.
| RANK | LAST TIME | SCHOOL [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] | RECORD | POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | Westmont (Calif.) | 4-0 | 591 |
| 2 | 3 | Campbellsville (Ky.) | 3-0 | 565 |
| 3 | 8 | Wayland Baptist (Texas) | 6-0 | 543 |
| 4 | 2 | Thomas More (Ky.) | 1-1 | 540 |
| 5 | 5 | Southeastern (Fla.) | 5-1 | 512 |
| 6 | 7 | Carroll (Mont.) | 4-1 | 500 |
| 7 | 10 | Vanguard (Calif.) | 2-0 | 471 |
| 8 | 18 | Sterling (Kan.) | 4-0 | 426 |
| 9 | 14 | Indiana Tech | 7-0 | 411 |
| 10 | 4 | Marian (Ind.) | 2-2 | 409 |
| 11 | 17 | Central Methodist (Mo.) | 3-0 | 404 |
| 12 | 6 | Morningside (Iowa) | 2-2 | 400 |
| 13 | 11 | Indiana Wesleyan | 5-1 | 368 |
| 14 | 16 | Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) | 3-0 | 350 |
| 15 | NR | Saint Xavier (Ill.) | 4-0 | 338 |
| 16 | NR | Dordt (Iowa) | 5-1 | 305 |
| 17 | NR | Northwestern (Iowa) | 4-0 | 280 |
| 18 | 19 | Clarke (Iowa) | 4-2 | 265 |
| 19 | 13 | Dakota State (S.D.) | 5-3 | 227 |
| 20 | 24 | The Master’s (Calif.) | 4-0 | 220 |
| 21 | 9 | Concordia (Neb.) | 2-2 | 151 |
| 22 | 23 | Loyola (La.) | 1-1 | 143 |
| 23 | NR | Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) | 4-2 | 129 |
| 24 | 21 | Montana Western | 3-1 | 127 |
| 25 | NR | Rust (Miss.) | 9-0 | 126 |
Dropped from the Top 25: Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), Lyon (Ark.), MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), Taylor (Ind.), Bushnell (Ore.)
Receiving Votes: St. Francis (Ill.) 83, Columbia (Mo.) 79, Bryan (Tenn.) 65, Science & Arts of Oklahoma 58, Providence (Mont.) 46, Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 45, Kansas Wesleyan 44, Benedictine (Kan.) 24, Pikeville (Ky.) 20, Oklahoma City 19, Rio Grande (Ohio) 13, Briar Cliff (Iowa) 11, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 9, Lyon (Ark.) 8, Xavier (La.) 8, Oregon Tech 7, Talladega (Ala.) 6, Mid-America Christian (Okla.) 6, St. Ambrose (Iowa) 6, Tabor (Kan.) 5, Grand View (Iowa) 5
