Kansas City, Mo. - The Central Methodist Women's Basketball program held on to their No. 2 national ranking for the fourth consecutive poll.
Central just missed out on the No. 1 ranking by a single point but matched current No. 1 Thomas More (Ky.) with 10 first-place votes.
The top eight teams remain the same from the last poll. Other Heart programs featured in the Top 25 include No. 8 Clarke, and (RV) Grand View.
CMU boasts the only undefeated record in the Top 25 at 24-0 which includes an 18-0 mark in conference play. CMU has secured Top 25 wins over Clarke (2x), Sterling, and Rust College.
As a team, the Eagles are ranked No. 3 in the country in points/game (84.3), field goals made/game (31.9), and fourth in assists/game (18.4). From a defensive standpoint, CMU is fifth in blocks/game (4.7) and seventh in steals/game (13.9).
Central needs to win their next two games to claim their fifth Heart Regular Season Championship in program history outright.
The Eagles remain at home to host Mount Mercy University Saturday, Feb. 11 at 2:00 p.m. inside Puckett Field House.
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 | TEAMS [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] | RECORD | POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | Thomas More (Ky.) [10] | 23-1 | 580 |
| 2 | 2 | Central Methodist (Mo.) [10] | 23-0 | 579 |
| 3 | 3 | Campbellsville (Ky.) [1] | 23-1 | 557 |
| 4 | 4 | Dordt (Iowa) | 23-1 | 527 |
| 5 | 5 | Westmont (Calif.) | 20-1 | 522 |
| 6 | 6 | Marian (Ind.) | 23-2 | 495 |
| 7 | 7 | Indiana Wesleyan | 22-3 | 475 |
| 8 | 8 | Clarke (Iowa) | 21-3 | 441 |
| 9 | 10 | Loyola (La.) | 21-1 | 431 |
| 10 | 9 | Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) | 22-2 | 429 |
| 11 | 11 | Carroll (Mont.) | 20-5 | 419 |
| 12 | 14 | Vanguard (Calif.) | 18-4 | 358 |
| 13 | 13 | Rio Grande (Ohio) | 21-3 | 353 |
| 14 | 16 | Eastern Oregon | 21-2 | 344 |
| 15 | 15 | Montana Western | 21-4 | 332 |
| 16 | 12 | Indiana Tech | 20-4 | 317 |
| 17 | 17 | Texas Wesleyan | 20-3 | 290 |
| 18 | 19 | Science & Arts (Okla.) | 21-3 | 245 |
| 19 | NR | Jamestown (N.D.) | 19-5 | 186 |
| 20 | NR | Cumberlands (Ky.) | 19-5 | 180 |
| 21 | 24 | Sterling (Kan.) | 20-4 | 168 |
| 22 | 22 | Rocky Mountain (Mont.) | 17-7 | 167 |
| 23 | 18 | Briar Cliff (Iowa) | 17-7 | 157 |
| 24 | NR | Mid-America Christian (Okla.) | 20-4 | 132 |
| 25 | 21 | Pikeville (Ky.) | 18-6 | 121 |
Dropped from the Poll: Southern Oregon, Rust (Miss.), Northwestern (Iowa)
Receiving Votes: Southern Oregon 115, Dakota State (S.D.) 102, Rust (Miss.) 90, IU South Bend (Ind.) 92, Texas A&M Texarkana 54, Menlo (Calif.) 48, Concordia (Neb.) 30, Bryan (Tenn.) 18, Northwestern (Iowa) 15, Grace (Ind.) 12, Midway (Ky.) 8, Siena Heights (Mich.) 8, Faulkner (Ala.) 6, Grand View (Iowa) 5, Philander Smith (Ark.) 3, Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) 3, Florida Memorial 3, IU Northwest (Ind.) 3
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