Northwestern College dropped one spot in this week’s edition of the NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball coaches’ poll released by the national office Wednesday.
The Red Raiders slid out of the top 10 and into the 11th spot in the final regular season edition of the coaches’ poll. They are 22-8 on the year as they prepare to play in the next week’s Division II National Championship in Sioux City, Iowa. Northwestern is one of five teams from the Great Plains Athletic Conference in the top 25, joining Concordia (2), Dakota Wesleyan (7), Hastings (12) and Morningside (13).
Southeastern (Fla.), the lone unbeaten team remaining in NAIA D-II at 29-0, ends the regular season in the top spot for the third straight poll. The Fire earned 11 of the 12 possible first place votes. Concordia is second and received the final first place vote, followed by College of the Ozarks (Mo.), Saint Xavier (Ill.) and Marian (Ind.)
2017-18 NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll-Final (Feb. 28)
| RANK | WEEK | SCHOOL [1st Place Votes] | Record | FINAL POINTS | |
| 1 | 1 | Southeastern (Fla.) [11] | 29-0 | 312 | |
| 2 | 2 | Concordia (Neb.) [1] | 32-1 | 302 | |
| 3 | 3 | College of the Ozarks (Mo.) | 30-1 | 292 | |
| 4 | 4 | Saint Xavier (Ill.) | 29-2 | 282 | |
| 5 | 5 | Marian (Ind.) | 21-2 | 272 | |
| 6 | 6 | Eastern Oregon | 30-2 | 262 | |
| 7 | 8 | Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) | 27-2 | 252 | |
| 8 | 7 | Jamestown (N.D.) | 29-4 | 240 | |
| 9 | 9 | Indiana Tech | 29-3 | 225 | |
| 10 | 11 | Southern Oregon | 27-4 | 221 | |
| 11 | 10 | Northwestern (Iowa) | 22-8 | 220 | |
| 12 | 12 | Hastings (Neb.) | 24-6 | 202 | |
| 13 | 13 | Morningside (Iowa) | 21-11 | 188 | |
| 14 | 16 | Valley City State (N.D.) | 25-4 | 176 | |
| 15 | 18 | Taylor (Ind.) | 23-10 | 172 | |
| 16 | 14 | Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) | 23-9 | 166 | |
| 17 | 15 | Indiana Wesleyan | 24-8 | 148 | |
| 18 | 17 | Northwest Christian (Ore.) | 23-6 | 141 | |
| 19 | 19 | St. Francis (Ill.) | 20-9 | 120 | |
| 20 | 22 | Rio Grande (Ohio) | 30-3 | 118 | |
| 21 | 20 | Lawrence Tech (Mich.) | 25-6 | 113 | |
| 22 | 21 | Friends (Kan.) | 24-8 | 110 | |
| 23 | 23 | Bryan (Tenn.) | 25-9 | 98 | |
| 24 | 24 | Antelope Valley (Calif.) | 22-6 | 77 | |
| 25 | 25 | Reinhardt (Ga.) | 26-9 | 72 | |
Others receiving votes: Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) 41; Indiana East 32; Bellevue (Neb.) 23; St. Thomas (Fla.) 21; Concordia (Mich.) 18; Oklahoma Wesleyan 17; Oregon Tech 11; Tabor (Kan.) 8; Alice Lloyd (Ky.) 8; Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) 5; Stillman (Ala.) 4
