Pride women's basketball enters postseason ranked No. 5 in final NAIA Poll

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - In the final official NAIA Coaches Top 25 Poll rankings of the 2023-24 season, the Clarke University women's basketball team remains in the No. 5 spot for the third-straight poll.

With a new program best overall record of 27-1, the Pride clinched their second Heart of America Athletic Conference Regular Season Championship while entering postseason play with the 17th-best points per game mark in the NAIA at 81.2 points per game while shooting 45 percent from the field as a team, the 19th-best mark in the NAIA, and 38.2 percent from three point range, third-best in the NAIA.

Clarke is led by a pair of 16 points per game scorers in senior Nicole McDermott and junior Mya Merschman as McDermott is posting career-highs in points per game (16.8), field goal percentage (57.4%), three point percentage (52.5%), rebounds per game (9.5), assists per game (2.7), steals per game (2.0), and blocks per game (0.3) while Merschman is the third-best three point shooter, by average among qualified players, in the NAIA with her 48.8 percent mark behind the arc averaging over two made threes on over four attempts per game to average 16.1 points per game.

The remainder of the regular rotation for the Pride consists of guards Izzie Peterson, Maci Kuchta, and Taylor Norris along with forwards Taylor Haase and Madison Lindauer with all averaging over 17 minutes per game, both Haase and Norris scoring over 12 points per game, Haase grabbing over nine rebounds per game, and both Peterson and Kuchta around close to three assists per game. 

Ahead of Clarke rounding out the top five are the usual suspects but in a slightly different order as Marian University claims the top spot for the first time this season finishing their regular season with a 27-1 record to win the Crossroads League Regular Season Championship, clinching with a win over No. 4 Indiana Wesleyan University who finished the regular season 25-3 with two of their three losses coming to the Knights while they also hold a road win over No. 3 Campbellsville University, who finished their regular season 26-1 and Mid-South Conference Regular Season Champions as their only loss all season came against the Wildcats, and the final team in the top five is Dordt University, who finished their regular season 26-2, losing their final regular season game to Northwestern College but still claimed the GPAC Regular Season crown.

With this final ratings release, this will not be the final team the teams will be ranked as the very last time will come NAIA Tournament seeding time when the full 64-team field is announced on Thursday, Mar. 7 during the NAIA's selection show at 7:00 p.m. CT on their YouTube page as Clarke has already claimed one of the two automatic bids given for the Heart Regular Season Championship.

Pride women's basketball will begin their postseason tonight when they host Central Methodist University in the first round of the Heart Tournament for a 6:00 p.m. CT tip in the Kehl Center against the Eagles.