Lady Jackets Inch Up to Eighth in Regional Poll (Feb. 9, 2005)

BILLINGS, MT – After defeating St. Martin’s on the road last week, the Montana State-Billings women’s basketball team gained just one place in this week’s NCAA West Region poll released by the NCAA women’s basketball committee.  The Yellowjackets host unbeaten North Dakota State on Saturday at 6:00 p.m.

The top eight teams in the final regional poll are invited to the NCAA Tournament.  MSU Billings was ranked ninth in each of the first three regional polls of the year before moving to eighth this week.  St. Martin’s, which was ranked fifth in the region when the Yellowjackets won in Lacey last week, remains ahead of MSU Billings at No. 7.  Seattle Pacific and Western Washington held onto the top two spots in the poll for the fourth straight week.

The regional poll is released each Wednesday by the NCAA women’s basketball committee.  The final regular season poll will be released March 2 with the regional seeding announced March 6.

NCAA West Region Women’s Basketball Poll
(Records through games of February 6, 2005.)

#  Team (overall record, regional record)
1. Seattle Pacific (19-1, 16-0)
2. Western Washington (18-2, 14-2)
3. Cal State-Chico (16-3, 14-3)
4. Cal Poly Pomona (15-4, 11-3)
5. Cal State-Bakersfield (14-5, 10-4)
6. Cal State-Dominguez Hills (12-6, 11-2)
7. St. Martin’s (14-5, 9-3)
8. Montana State-Billings (15-5, 9-4)
9. Cal State-San Bernardino (14-5, 10-4)
10. UC-San Diego (11-8, 9-5)