Pride move to No. 14 in latest NAIA Coaches' Poll

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - In the final NAIA Coaches' Top-25 Poll of the 2021-22 regular season, the Clarke University women's basketball team comes in as the No. 14 ranked team in the voting.

The Pride suffer their first drop in the poll on the season after climbing as high as No. 10 in the previous poll following their 18-game winning streak in the middle of the season that spanned from Nov. 13 to Jan. 26 before they dropped back-to-back road games to Benedictine College and Grand View University before getting back in the win column last Saturday at home against Park.

CU and Central Methodist have flipped in the polls for the second time this season as the Eagles slide just ahead of Clarke in the No. 13 spot as the Pride hold the head-to-head edge with a victory over CMU back on Jan. 22. Clarke and Central Methodist continue to be the only Heart of America Athletic Conference teams in the top-25 with Grand View receiving votes despite their second place standing in the Heart and a win over the Pride, they also dropped their game last Saturday against Central Methodist.

Clarke's offensive attack is a deep group with by five players at scoring averages in double figures led by Emma Kelchen's 12.3 points per game and 7.5 rebounds per game so far through the season. Nicole McDermott is second on the team in both categories scoring 11.4 points per game and grabbing 6.9 rebounds per game with Giana Michels scoring 11.0 points per game, Taylor Haase scoring 10.8 points per game in just 18.7 minutes per game, and Tina Ubl stuffs the entire stat sheet with 10.3 points per game, 5.8 rebounds per game, 2.4 assists per game, and 1.7 steals per game.

The defense is not to be overlooked for the Pride as they allow 61.7 points against per game, good for fourth best in the Heart, as opponents shoot 37.1 percent from the field against CU another fourth-best mark in the Heart, and limit teams to just 28.2 percent from three point range.

Clarke will play their final two home games of the regular season tonight and this Friday when they host Peru State College and Culver-Stockton College at the Kehl Center, both games scheduled to tip off at 5:30 p.m. CT.