STANDISH, Maine – The D3hoops.com and Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) national polls have been released and Saint Joseph's College is ranked eighth and 10th, respectively.
The third NCAA DIII Regional Rankings have also been announced and Saint Joseph's is fourth in the Northeast Region for the second-consecutive week.
The Monks received 436 points in the February 17th D3hoops.com poll and 122 points in this week's WBCA rankings.
Saint Joseph's is currently 26-0 overall and finished the regular season with a 12-0 record in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC). As of February 19th, St. Joe's remains as one of just three NCAA DIII programs to have not yet suffered a loss after posting victories over Norwich University (72-49) and Lasell College (90-48) last week.
The Monks' perfect (25-0) regular season is the first in program and GNAC women's basketball history and the team's 26-game winning streak is the second longest in SJC Athletics history. Last year's women's basketball team registered the longest win streak –27 games.
Through February 19th, the Monks are averaging 78.6 points while allowing 56.8 points per game and shooting 44.7% from the field, 36.5% from three-point distance, and 72.1% from the free-throw line.
As of February 18th, Saint Joseph's ranks second in NCAA DIII Women's Basketball in assist/turnover ratio (1.44), seventh in three-point field goals per game (9.4), eighth in three-point field goals made (235), and ninth in fewest turnovers (314), turnovers per game (12.6), assists (453), and assists per game (18.1). The Monks are also 12th in scoring margin (21.7) and 14th in points (1,944) and scoring offense (77.8).
In the 11th D3hoops.com poll of the season, Bowdoin (25-0) remains in the top slot for the ninth-consecutive week with 16 first-place votes and 616 points overall while #2 Thomas More (25-0) earned nine first-place nods and 608 points. St. Thomas is third (567), Amherst fourth (541) and Trine is fifth with 506 points. Tufts is ranked sixth (492) and is the only other New England Region program to claim top-25 billing this week.
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 12th WBCA poll of the season, Bowdoin is ranked first with five first-place votes and 197 points overall and is followed by Thomas More (195), St. Thomas (179), Amherst (175) and Tufts (168) in the top five.
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 third NCAA DIII Women's Basketball Northeast Regional Rankings feature Bowdoin, Amherst, Tufts, Saint Joseph's, and Smith in the top five while Middlebury, Babson, UMass.-Dartmouth, Trinity, MIT, Eastern Connecticut, and UMass.-Boston round out the top 12.
The NCAA releases regional rankings each week during the final three weeks of the season with each set providing a clearer picture as to which teams have the best chance to earn their way into the NCAA DIII Tournament. The final regional rankings will be released on Monday, February 25th, which is when the bracket for the 64-team field is unveiled.
The NCAA's official regional rankings primary criteria are: winning percentage (versus Division III teams), strength of schedule, results versus regionally ranked opponents, head-to-head results, and results versus common opponents.
Sixty-four teams go to the tournament — 43 conference champions, one team from Pool B and 20 at-large teams (Pool C). Pool B has 10 teams that are independent or members of conferences that do not have automatic bids, which is enough for one Pool B bid to be allocated to those teams.
Saint Joseph's, the top seed in the GNAC Tournament, will host #4 Suffolk University in a conference semifinal on Thursday at 5:00 PM.