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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Drury Lady Panthers finished with a number eight national ranking the final NCAA-II women’s basketball coaches’ poll. Drury ended the year 31-2, and was the Great Lakes Valley Conference champion for the seventh-straight season. The Lady Panthers went 20-0 in the GLVC regular season and reached the semifinals of the NCAA-II Midwest Regional.
National championship Ashland finished 37-0 and is ranked first in the final poll. Drury’s only regular season loss was to the Eagles when Ashland edged Drury 68-67 in overtime on Nov. 23 at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
Minnesota Duluth (32-4), the national runner-up, was ranked second in the poll, while Glenville State (33-3) was third and Tampa (33-2) was ranked fourth.
The poll marks the 152nd consecutive week the Lady Panthers have been ranked in the top 25, the longest such streak in the nation. It is also their 90th straight week to be ranked in the top 10.
NCAA-II Coaches’ Poll – April 4, 2023
| Rank | School (Record) | Total Points |
First-Place Votes |
Previous Rank |
| 1 | Ashland (37-0) | 575 | 23 | 1 |
| 2 | Minnesota Duluth (32-4) | 547 | 0 | 6 |
| 3 | Glenville State (33-3) | 523 | 0 | 4 |
| 4 | Tampa (33-2) | 482 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | Cal State Dominguez Hills (31-3) | 427 | 0 | 8 |
| 6 | Catawba (29-6) | 418 | 0 | 20 |
| 7 | Grand Valley State (31-3) | 410 | 0 | 5 |
| 8 | Drury (31-2) | 367 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | Eckerd (26-6) | 318 | 0 | 13 |
| 10 | Assumption (27-6) | 304 | 0 | 21 |
| 11 | Minnesota State Mankato (26-5) | 290 | 0 | 12 |
| 12 | Union, TN (27-4) | 277 | 0 | 9 |
| 13 | Azusa Pacific (26-5) | 264 | 0 | 14 |
| 14 | Texas-Tyler (27-8) | 257 | 0 | NR |
| 15 | Cal State San Marcos (25-6) | 251 | 0 | 16 |
| 16 | Western Washington (24-4) | 229 | 0 | 7 |
| 17 | Central Missouri (25-5) | 224 | 0 | 11 |
| 18 | Missouri Southern State (29-7) | 218 | 0 | 18 |
| 19 | Nebraska Kearney (28-5) | 174 | 0 | 10 |
| 20 | Thomas Jefferson (28-5) | 143 | 0 | 22 |
| 21 | Gannon (29-5) | 127 | 0 | 17 |
| 22 | Tuskegee (26-4) | 124 | 0 | 15 |
| 23 | Texas Woman’s (26-6) | 97 | 0 | 19 |
| 24 | Georgia Southwestern (26-7) | 64 | 0 | RV |
| 25 | Angelo State (26-7) | 49 | 0 | 24 |
Dropped out: No. 23 Michigan Tech (25-7); No. 25 Colorado Mines (24-7).
Others receiving votes: Colorado Mines (24-7) 41; Michigan Tech (25-7) 35; Lubbock Christian (24-11) 34; Lee, TN (26-7) 32; Southern Nazarene (27-5) 28; Bentley (22-10) 25; West Chester (24-9) 21; Montana State Billings (25-8) 15; Augustana, SD (25-6) 11; Daemen (20-5) 5.
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