Kansas City, Mo. - The Central Methodist Women's Basketball team jumped two spots to No. 4 in the second edition of the NAIA Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 poll, announced by the national office Wednesday morning.
Other Heart programs featured or mentioned in the Top 25 include; No. 6 Clarke, (RV) Grand View and (RV) MidAmerica Nazarene.
The No. 4 ranking is the highest national ranking in school history. The previous high for the Eagles was No. 6 in the Final Coaches' Poll on March 11, 2020. That team won both the Heart regular season and conference tournament titles and earned an automatic berth into the NAIA National Tournament before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Throughout their first six games this season, Central has averaged 88.7 points/game. In addition, CMU has tallied Top 25 wins over, at the time, No. 13 Sterling College and No. 5 Clarke.
Four of Central's five starters are averaging double-digit scoring. Senior forward Daryna Bachkarova leads the team with 19.2 points/game, followed by Leianya Massenat with 17.5 points/game.
Leah Johnson and Zutorya Cook round out the double-digit scorers for CMU with 15.0 and 12.2 points/game respectively. Johnson also leads the team in rebounds, averaging more than 10 boards/game.
Central will face MidAmerica Nazarene University Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 5:30 p.m. in Olathe, Kan.
To view the poll methodology and the complete Top 25 poll, please see below.
Poll Methodology
- The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences, Independents and Unaffiliated Groups.
- The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter ranks the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second place and so on through the list.
- The highest and lowest ranking for each team (a non-rating is considered low ratings) is removed and the team's ranking will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the team appears on.
- Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered "receiving votes."
| RANK | LAST TIME | SCHOOL [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] | RECORD | POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | Thomas More (Ky.) [21] | 8-0 | 591 |
| 2 | 2 | Westmont (Calif.) | 7-0 | 572 |
| 3 | 3 | Campbellsville (Ky.) | 5-0 | 542 |
| 4 | 6 | Central Methodist (Mo.) | 6-0 | 539 |
| 5 | 13 | Dordt (Iowa) | 8-0 | 500 |
| 6 | 5 | Clarke (Iowa) | 6-1 | 496 |
| 7 | 4 | Indiana Wesleyan | 7-2 | 483 |
| 8 | 8 | Marian (Ind.) | 7-1 | 451 |
| 9 | 9 | Carroll (Mont.) | 4-3 | 439 |
| 10 | 14 | Loyola (La.) | 7-0 | 420 |
| 11 | 7 | Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) | 5-1 | 415 |
| 12 | 15 | Vanguard (Calif.) | 5-0 | 370 |
| 13 | 17 | Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) | 4-1 | 362 |
| 14 | 16 | Rio Grande (Ohio) | 7-1 | 334 |
| 15 | 21 | Indiana Tech | 8-2 | 300 |
| 16 | 25 | Northwestern (Iowa) | 8-0 | 291 |
| 17 | 19 | The Master's (Calif.) | 6-0 | 271 |
| 18 | 20 | Southern Oregon | 4-1 | 248 |
| 19 | 10 | Sterling (Kan.) | 4-3 | 241 |
| 20 | 23 | Mid-America Christian (Okla.) | 6-0 | 229 |
| 21 | 22 | Montana Western | 5-1 | 222 |
| 22 | 18 | Georgetown (Ky.) | 5-3 | 208 |
| 23 | NR | St. Francis (Ill.) | 7-1 | 173 |
| 24 | 24 | Cumberlands (Ky.) | 6-2 | 136 |
| 25 | 12 | Morningside (Iowa) | 3-3 | 131 |
Dropped from the Top 25: Wayland Baptist (Texas)
Receiving Votes: Science & Arts (Okla.) 79, IU South Bend (Ind.) 60, Faulkner (Ala.) 36, Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 31, Eastern Oregon 30, Briar Cliff (Iowa) 30, Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) 26, Dakota State (S.D.) 22, Grace (Ind.) 19, Xavier (La.) 9, Stillman (Ala.) 9, Oakland City (Ind.) 9, Rust (Miss.) 9, Reinhardt (Ga.) 9, St. Thomas (Fla.) 9, Grand View (Iowa) 7, Philander Smith (Ark.) 6, LSU Shreveport (La.) 5, Siena Heights (Mich.) 5, MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 5
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