KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Montana Tech's women's basketball team will begin a season ranked in the top 25 for the first time in program history.
The Orediggers were voted No. 16 in the preseason Gared NAIA women's basketball preseason coaches' top 25 poll, the NAIA office announced Wednesday.
Montana Tech enters the 2026-27 campaign on the heels of the most successful season in Oredigger women's basketball history. The team won the Frontier Conference tournament championship — its first since 1983 — and a program-record 26 games in addition to the team's first-ever NAIA national tournament victory.
The Orediggers earned a top-25 ranking for the first time ever last November and climbed as high as No. 12 in the poll before finishing the season at No. 15.
Three other Frontier Conference programs checked into the preseason top 25, headlined by Dakota State at No. 3. Rocky Mountain earned the No. 12 spot, and Carroll was ranked 24th.
Montana Tech begins the 2026-27 season at home Saturday against Hope International at 6 p.m.
Gared NAIA Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Top 25 Poll
| RANK |
INSTITUITION [FIRST-PLACEVOTES] |
2025-26 RECORD |
| 1 |
Marian (Ind.) [4] |
35-2 |
| 2 |
Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) [5] |
29-7 |
| 3 |
Dakota State (S.D.) |
30-6 |
| 4 |
Bethel (Tenn.) [7] |
28-6 |
| 5 |
Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) |
29-4 |
| 6 |
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) |
23-9 |
| 7 |
Dordt (Iowa) [1] |
34-3 |
| 8 |
Campbellsville (Ky.) |
25-8 |
| 9 |
Saint Francis (Ind.) [2] |
30-5 |
| 10 |
Concordia (Neb.) |
23-8 |
| 11 |
Georgetown (Ky.) |
25-9 |
| 12 |
Rocky Mountain (Mont.) |
21-10 |
| 13 |
Rio Grande (Ohio) |
31-2 |
| 14 |
Indiana Wesleyan |
19-14 |
| 15 |
Benedictine (Kan.) |
24-8 |
| 16 |
Montana Tech |
26-5 |
| 17 |
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) |
28-4 |
| 18 |
Hastings (Neb.) |
24-9 |
| 19 |
Loyola (La.) |
25-5 |
| 20 |
College of the Ozarks (Mo.) |
25-11 |
| 21 |
Southeastern (Fla.) |
28-4 |
| 22 |
College of Idaho |
22-9 |
| 23 |
Oregon Tech |
19-12 |
| 24 |
Carroll (Mont.) |
19-11 |
| 25 |
Spring Arbor (Mich.) |
24-8 |
Receiving Votes: Bethel (Ind.), Bethel (Kan.), Columbia (Mo.), Corban (Ore.), Cumberland (Tenn.), Cumberlands (Ky.), Eastern Oregon, Evangel (Mo.), Faulkner (Ala.), Friends (Kan.), Huntington (Ind.), Indiana Tech, IU South Bend (Ind.), Langston (Okla.), Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), LSU Shreveport (La.), Mid-America Christian (Okla.), Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), St. Francis (Ill.), William Carey (Miss.), Williams Baptist (Ark.)
Visit Montana Tech athletics' home online, GoDiggers.com, anytime for up-to-the-minute news and coverage of the Orediggers. Give Montana Tech athletics a like on Facebook, and follow the Orediggers on X and Instagram at @DiggerAthletics.
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