MITCHELL — Dakota Wesleyan University remains ranked at No. 17 in the most recent NAIA women’s basketball coaches top-25 poll, which was released Wednesday.

The Tigers, who improved to 6-2 with a win Tuesday over No. 17 Briar Cliff, dropped six spots from No. 11 in the most recent poll. DWU went 3-1 since the last rankings, losing at Doane and then bouncing back with three straight wins, including home wins over BCU and Northwestern and a road win at the College of Saint Mary.

The polls are issued every two weeks, and DWU was No. 9 in the initial preseason rankings for the season.

Defending national champion Dordt, a squad the Tigers face next on Dec. 4, remains the national No. 1 with a 7-0 start. Concordia (Neb.) is ranked No. 5, Briar Cliff moved up to No. 12 and Northwestern is at No. 25 to round out the GPAC representation. Dakota State, which defeated DWU on Nov. 6 in a top-10 matchup between the two teams, is ranked No. 9 this week.

In the NAIA top-25 men’s poll, Arizona Christian is the new No. 1 after a 9-0 start to the season, while previous No. 1 Langston (Okla.) moved down 10 spots to No. 11 after a 5-2 start. GPAC representation in the poll includes No. 8 Northwestern, No. 17 Dordt and No. 23 Morningside, while Concordia is in the receiving votes grouping.

The polls are voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and the poll no longer is used in the selection process for the national tournament field.

Marcus Traxler is the assistant editor and sports editor for the Mitchell Republic. A past winner of the state’s Outstanding Young Journalist award and the 2023 South Dakota Sportswriter of the Year, he’s worked for the newspaper since 2014 and covers a wide variety of topics. A Minnesota native, Traxler can be reached at mtraxler@mitchellrepublic.com.