STANDISH, Maine – The D3hoops.com and Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) national polls have been announced and Saint Joseph's College is ranked 12th and 16th in the country, respectively, for the second-consecutive week.
The Monks hold steady in the national rankings after posting convincing victories over University of New England (71-55) and Bates College (93-71) last week. St. Joe's posted a 79-58 win over Maine Maritime Academy last night to improve to 7-0, the Monks' best start to a season since the 2001-02 squad opened with the same record.
Through December 5th, Saint Joseph's is scoring 77.9 points and allowing 55.9 per game while shooting 44.5% from the floor, 34.7% from three-point range, and 71.1% from the free-throw line.
As of December 2nd, Saint Joseph's leads NCAA DIII Women's Basketball in fewest turnovers per game (10.8) and ranks third in assist/turnover ratio (1.51), 12th in fewest turnovers (65), and 16th in turnover margin (817). St. Joe's is one of 34 teams who have not yet suffered a setback.
The D3hoops.com top five is the same as last week. With 17 first-place votes and 609 points overall, Bowdoin College remains atop the poll and is followed by Hope (580), St. Thomas (574), Thomas More (549), and Chicago (524) in the top five. Tufts (6th, 505 pts) and Amherst (7th, 477) are the only other New England region teams to be listed in the top 25 this week.
Trinity (11), Middlebury (8) and UMass.-Dartmouth (1) also received votes in the December 2nd D3hoops.com poll.
The D3hoops.com Top 25 is voted on by a panel of 25 coaches, Sports Information Directors and media members from across the country, and is published weekly. Points are awarded on a 25-24-23-22-etc. basis.
In the third WBCA poll of the season, Bowdoin is ranked first with six first-place votes and 198 points overall and is followed by Hope (188), Amherst (178), Thomas More (175), and St. Thomas (173). Tufts is ranked sixth with 167 points while Eastern Connecticut State (2 pts) is listed in the "Others receiving votes" section.
The WBCA NCAA Division III Coaches Poll Committee is made up of nine head coaches at Division III institutions. All are members of the WBCA. The 2018-19 committee members are Brian Morehouse, non-voting chair (Hope), Renee DeVarney (Swarthmore), Kristen Dowling (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps), Alex Lang (Brooklyn), Jennifer Reimer (Case Western Reserve), Alex Richey (Oglethorpe), Mia Smith (Illinois Wesleyan), Daphne Thompson (SUNY Oneonta) and Kelly Thompson (Roger Williams).
The Monks will host Colby College on Thursday night at 6:00 PM.
