The Master’s University has been ranked in the top 25 schools for NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball Coaches.

For the second-consecutive poll, Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) locks down the No. 1 ranking in the NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Tuesday. The Lions claimed nine of the 10 first-places votes and 250 total points. The third regular-season installment is scheduled to release on Jan. 17.

Top 25 Highlights (historical information dates back to 1999-2000)
• Freed-Hardeman repeats as the No. 1 team after ending the 2016 portion of its schedule with a 13-0 record. The Lions are one of four unbeaten teams remaining in NAIA Division I – No. 2 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) (15-0), No. 4 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) (13-0) and Montana Western (13-0) are the others.
• The top billing is the 20th for the Lions since the 1999-2000 season, which trails only former member Union (Tenn.) (53), Oklahoma City (49) and Vanguard (Calif.) (41) for most during that span.
• Freed-Hardeman currently leads the America Midwest Conference with a 7-0 league mark. The Lions boast a 28.7-point average margin of victory in conference contests.
• Freed-Hardeman returns to the hardwood Tuesday against Williams Baptist (Ark.), before hosting No. 12 Columbia (Mo.) on Thursday.
• No. 2 Lewis-Clark State claimed the remaining first-place vote en route to a second-straight No. 2 ranking. This is the first time that the Warriors have posted consecutive top five rankings since checking in at No. 5 and No. 4 in the first and second regular-season editions during the 2011-12 season.
• Lewis-Clark State’s 15 victories are the second-most in the NAIA, trailing only No. 10 Shawnee State (Ohio), which enters Tuesday with a 17-1 mark.
• No. 3 Westmont (Calif.) and No. 4 Lindsey Wilson each jumped two places, while No. 5 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) fell two spots to round out the top five.
• No. 15 Cumberland (Tenn.) posted the greatest upward movement in the poll, jumping four places from its No. 19 position in the Dec. 6 poll. The Phoenix have won three of their last four with their only loss coming against No. 7 Campbellsville (Ky.), 91-83, in overtime on Dec. 1.

Cumberland takes on Fisk (Tenn.) Saturday before returning to Mid-South Conference (MSC) action on Jan. 9 against Lindsey Wilson.
• Benedictine (Kan.) fell further than any other team with a five-spot fall. The Ravens, who are 7-5 overall, are 1-3 in their four games with all three defeats coming against ranked opponents. Benedictine looks to right the ship Wednesday at Missouri Valley.
• Freed-Hardeman and Oklahoma City have been listed in all 207 polls dating back to the start of the 1999-2000 season. No. 6 Vanguard is next in line with 174-straight mentions.
• Eight of 10 conferences are represented in the poll.
• The MSC leads all leagues with five teams represented – Lindsey Wilson, Campbellsville, Shawnee State, Cumberland and No. 23 Pikeville (Ky.).
• In total, 27 teams have been ranked in the Top 25 this season.
• Union and Vanguard are the only programs to have spent an entire season ranked No. 1 (Union: 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11) (Vanguard: 2005-06, 2006-07).

Poll Methodology
• The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences, Association of Independent Institutions 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 a 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 teams appears on.
• Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes”
• Frequency of polls occur bi-weekly. This policy was approved by the National Administrative Council (NAC) for the 2016-17 academic season. This change will allow raters the opportunity to consider a larger body of work in between rating periods.