Every team has played nine games and made one trip through the league, but the second time through the batting order may not be any easier, depending on whose perspective you see. From 9-0 to 2-7, here’s where our voters have ranked the women’s teams at the halfway point.
1. South Dakota State (80 points; 1st)
The Jacks sit at 9-0, in first place in the league standings, and first place in our voter rankings. The goose egg in the loss column came not without a fight, however. SDSU seems to struggle in Omaha, likely due to the 2021 tournament’s first-round exit, courtesy of the Mavericks. Omaha had a three-point lead at the half, but a 24-8 run in the third quarter set SDSU up for success. Another close game followed at Denver, but the Jacks held on for a 10-point victory. St. Thomas and Western Illinois will come to Frost Arena this weekend.
2. North Dakota State (68 points; 2nd)
Still in second are the Bison of NDSU. An unusually quiet night for Heaven Hamling allowed for Taylor Brown and Elle Evans to take the reins, but it was not quite enough and the Bison fell deep into a 22-point hole at Oral Roberts. Saturday brought redemption for NDSU as it put up an 11-point victory over Kansas City. The green and gold will head up the road to in-state rival North Dakota this weekend, looking to sweep the series with the Fighting Hawks.
3. South Dakota (64 points; 4th)
The Yotes moved up a spot in our rankings this week. Previously in fourth, USD picked up a seven-point victory over Omaha last week. Due to weather, the game with Denver was postponed to Jan. 23, but votes were submitted before the conclusion of that game. Grace Larkins came egregiously close to a triple-double in Denver. We might expect USD to keep climbing. It will host Western Illinois and St. Thomas this weekend to conclude its three-game week.
4. Oral Roberts (57 points; 5th)
The Golden Eagles find themselves up one spot this week. In last week’s games, ORU showed the North Dakota schools how slow (or quick) Tulsa Time really is. The Eagles dropped 75 points on NDSU for a 22-point victory (Tirzah Moore is BACK by the way- she scored 30 in that game) before beating North Dakota 96-91. That was ORU’s second week in a row scoring 90 points or more in at least one game. We are still one month away from the second meeting between ORU and SDSU, but with this high-octane offense and four weeks to work, ORU could stun the Jacks in the last game before Sioux Falls. The Eagles will travel to Denver and Omaha this week.
5. North Dakota (47 points; 3rd)
A two-loss week (Kansas City; Oral Roberts) told our voters to drop the Fighting Hawks. Down two spots in our rankings, UND is 4-5 heading into rivalry week. After a five-point loss to the Bison on New Year’s Eve, the Hawks should be ready to rumble. The rivalry game will be played at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center on Saturday.
6. Omaha (45 points; T-6th)
The Mavericks have earned sole possession of the sixth spot in our rankings. Though victim to the South Dakota schools, Omaha found itself within 10 points in each game, even having the lead at half over the Jacks. We expect to see a breakthrough game for Omaha in the coming weeks. Baxter Arena will play host to Kansas City and Oral Roberts this weekend.
7. Denver (30 points; 9th)
Up from last place are the Pioneers of Denver. Despite two losses last week, (Omaha, South Dakota State) Denver has improved tremendously. Its offense has become a bit more stable, while its defense has held teams to less points than they may normally score. While votes came in before the conclusion of the game, Denver played South Dakota much closer Monday night than we have seen it play anybody in awhile. Good things are on the horizon. The Pios will see Oral Roberts and Kansas City in Hamilton this weekend.
8. Western Illinois (25 points; T-6th)
The Leathernecks dropped two spots due to other teams improving, but held their own in Schoeckner Arena last weekend. Carla Flores tossed up the game-winning shot after an assist from Addi Brownfield to defeat St. Thomas on the road, 77-75. The Leathernecks are coming off of a one-game week to travel to the South Dakota schools.
9. St. Thomas (15 points; 7th)
Down a couple of spots are the Tommies of the University of St. Thomas. Sinn’s squad dropped a close one at home to Western Illinois and will need to recover quickly, as they are off to face two of the league’s top three teams in SDSU and USD this weekend.
10. Kansas City (13 points; 8th)
Dropping to our last spot are the Roos. Kansas City did pick up a win over North Dakota last week, but failed to stay consistent. Kansas City will need to push its offense a bit harder if it wants to come out victorious throughout the rest of the league schedule. The Roos will travel to Denver and Omaha this weekend with an opportunity to snag a couple of much-needed wins.
How are rankings are calculated: Each voter submits their list of teams 1-10 as they currently see it. We then go through and rank the teams. Each first place vote is 10 points, second place is 9, and so on. The total number of points a team has then correlates to the position they are put in.
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