By Thomas More Athletics
Despite their first loss of the season since the last poll came out, the Thomas More University women’s basketball team hung on to the top spot in the latest NAIA Coaches’ Poll.
Thomas More came in with 580 points and garnered 10 first place votes, edging out Central Methodist University’s (Mo.) 579 points and 10 first place votes.
The Saints suffered their first loss of the season to the No. 3 ranked Campbellsville University Tigers, a 70-59 loss on the road. They added home wins over Lindsey Wilson (57-51) and Wilberforce (90-44) in that span.
In the three games, Zoie Barth and Emily Simon led the team. Barth had 18 against the Blue Raiders with three assists. She then tied a season-high with 22 points at Campbellsville, before dishing out a season-high eight assists against Wilberforce.
Simon has been incredibly consistent over the last five games. Senior Courtney Hurst also knocked down a season-high six threes in the win against the Bulldogs.
Thomas More and Campbellsville have lapped the field in the Mid-South Conference standings, leading Cumberlands and Pikeville by four games. However, with the two teams tied at the top of the standings, it will be a battle over the final four games to see who wins the regular season crown and the coveted No. 1 seed in the Mid-South Conference tournament.
The Saints host the Bethel (Tenn.) Thursday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. before Senior Day on Saturday afternoon against Freed-Hardeman at 1 p.m.
MEN JUMP FIVE SPOTS
The Thomas More University men’s basketball team jumped five spots in the latest NAIA Coaches’ Poll to No. 16 in the country.
The Saints have won four straight since the last poll to improve to 19-5 overall and 13-5 in the Mid-South. They beat Lindsey Wilson (72-64) at home, went to Campbellsville and blew out the Tigers (79-51), and then beat Miami-Middletown (82-60) and Wilberforce (83-69) at home.
During these four games, the Saints put together five double-doubles, with two coming from Casey George and two from Kyle Ross. The other came from Reid Jolly. Jolly now has six double-doubles this season, George has four, and Ross has three.
Thomas More is tied for second in the MSC standings with Freed-Hardeman with four games to play in the conference schedule. The Saints and Lions trail Georgetown by one game.
After hosting Bethel(Tenn.) Thursday night at 7:30 p.m., Thomas More has a huge game with Freed-Hardeman on Senior Day on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. Every game for the rest of the season will have huge conference tournament seeding implications.
2022-23 NAIA Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll Six (February 8, 2023)
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
2022-23 NAIA Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll Six (February 8, 2023)
| RANK | LAST WEEK | SCHOOL [1st Place Votes] | RECORD | FINAL POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | College of Idaho [20] | 22-1 | 560 |
| 2 | 4 | Arizona Christian | 21-4 | 522 |
| 3 | 5 | Union (Ky.) | 22-1 | 509 |
| 4 | 7 | Grace (Ind.) | 22-3 | 507 |
| 5 | 3 | Langston (Okla.) | 22-2 | 482 |
| 6 | 8 | Indiana Tech | 21-3 | 461 |
| 7 | 9 | William Penn (Iowa) | 21-2 | 456 |
| 8 | 2 | Oklahoma Wesleyan | 22-3 | 452 |
| 9 | 11 | Jamestown (N.D.) | 22-3 | 427 |
| 10 | 10 | Georgetown (Ky.) | 20-4 | 412 |
| 11 | 12 | Montana Tech | 21-4 | 350 |
| 12 | 13 | Kansas Wesleyan | 21-3 | 346 |
| 13 | 6 | Indiana Wesleyan | 18-7 | 325 |
| 14 | 20 | Florida College | 22-3 | 321 |
| 14 | 15 | Loyola (La.) | 19-4 | 321 |
| 16 | 22 | Thomas More (Ky.) | 19-5 | 290 |
| 17 | 16 | Faulkner (Ala.) | 20-4 | 258 |
| 18 | RV | Huntington (Ind.) | 19-6 | 202 |
| 19 | RV | LSU Shreveport (La.) | 19-5 | 201 |
| 20 | 21 | Southwestern (Kan.) | 19-5 | 168 |
| 21 | 25 | Antelope Valley (Calif.) | 21-1 | 158 |
| 22 | 14 | Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) | 17-7 | 151 |
| 23 | 23 | Iowa Wesleyan | 22-2 | 147 |
| 24 | 19 | Evangel (Mo.) | 19-5 | 136 |
| 25 | 18 | Morningside (Iowa) | 17-6 | 92 |
Dropped from the Top 25: Texas A&M Texarkana, Marian (Ind.)
Others Receiving Votes: Texas A&M Texarkana 83, Saint Xavier (Ill.) 82, Dordt (Iowa) 74, The Master’s (Calif.) 71, Tougaloo (Miss.) 35, Wayland Baptist (Texas) 29, St. Thomas (Fla.) 28, Madonna (Mich.) 25, Marian (Ind.) 23, Rio Grande (Ohio) 22, Mayville State (N.D.) 19, Eastern Oregon 14, Hope International (Calif.) 12, Montana State-Northern 10, Ottawa (Ariz.) 8, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 8, Tennessee Southern 5, Thomas (Ga.) 3, Corban (Ore.) 3, IU Kokomo (Ind.) 3.