Pride remain in the top five in latest NAIA Coaches Poll
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Nearing the final stretch of the 2023-24 regular season, the Clarke University women's basketball team was voted as the No. 5 team in the NAIA Coaches Top 25 Poll in the latest edition of the poll on the last day of January.
This is a move one spot lower than the No. 4 spot that the Pride had occupied in the rankings since Nov. 8 following their first and only loss of the season two Saturdays ago when Benedictine College earned a narrow one-point victory on Jan. 20.
That game also helped the Ravens jump up into the receiving votes category as the second of three teams in the Heart of America Athletic Conference in the poll with Grand View University holding in the rankings at the No. 17 spot with a 19-2 overall record as the Vikings will be in the Kehl Center for a rematch with the Pride on Wednesday, Feb. 14.
All of the top five consists of the same teams as the prior poll with shuffling of spots among three of the teams including CU as Marian University jumps from No. 5 to No. 2 after a 19-point road win over the previous No. 2 and now current No. 4 team in the rankings in Indiana Wesleyan, also on Jan. 20. Dordt University remains in the top spot with their 18-1 record with Campbellsville University maintaining at No. 3, also at 18-1 while the only undefeated teams in the top 25 are a pair of 20-0 teams in Indiana University South Bend and Reinhardt University who are at No. 19 and No. 23 respectively.
Full rankings can be found here: https://www.naia.org/sports/wbkb/2023-24/Releases/5_National
Clarke currently has the 19th-ranked offense in terms of scoring average with an 80.1 points per game mark through their 20 games as they also possess the 16th-best field goal percentage in the NAIA at 45.2 percent shooting from the field and the second-best three-point field goal percentage at 39.8 percent.
That stellar three point percentage is led mainly by the trio of Nicole McDermott, Mya Merschman, and Taylor Norris with Merschman and Norris attempting significantly more three-point shots than McDermott but all three are shooting over 43 percent from distance with Merschman leading the Heart among qualified players at 46.8 percent, Norris in third at 43.9 percent, and McDermott hitting over 55 percent of her three pointers but not averaging at least one three made per game to qualify for those rankings.
McDermott is having a career year in this senior season as the Cascade, Iowa native leads the team with 17.4 points per game, 9.8 rebounds per game, and 2.1 steals per game while adding a 2.8 assist per game mark, good for second best on the Pride. McDermott's numbers currently have her third in the Heart in scoring, first in rebounds, second in field goal percentage at 56.6, and ninth in steals.
Merschman and Norris along with Taylor Haase round out the group of four all averaging double figures for the Pride as Merschman is close to a 50/40/90 player at her 15.6 points per game average while shooting 48.8 percent from the field, 46.8 percent from three, and 90.9 percent from the free throw line. Haase plays a bulk of the minutes at the center/post position to a 13.8 points per game mark and a 9.2 rebounds per game mark and Norris has been a weapon off the bench for CU at her 12.3 points per game mark, recording 12 or more points in six of her last seven games.
Clarke women's basketball will play a home game tonight when they host Culver-Stockton College in the Kehl Center for a 5:30 p.m. CT tip against the Wildcats.