OBU Basketball Teams Move to Ninth in First Polls

December 7, 2004

Oklahoma Baptist University's women's basketball team jumped seven places to ninth while the men's team dipped from fifth to ninth in the first regular season NAIA Top25, released Tuesday.

The OBU women are 10-0 heading into Tuesday night's clash with Rhema Bible Institute, moving up from 16th in the preseason poll. The women moved ahead of Oklahoma City University, which dropped from third to 12th. Union University in Tennessee is the unanimous No. 1 team.

The Bison lost their first game of the season, but go into Tuesday's game with a nine-game winning streak. The team that handed them the loss - LSU-Shreveport - jumped to eighth in the poll.

Oklahoma Christian, the lone undefeated team in the original Top 25, moved to fourth with three first-place votes. Concordia University-Irvine is the No. 1 team in the nation after beating previous No. 1 Mountain State in Houston Baptist University's classic last weekend.

The final rankings determine the 15 at-large teams for the NAIA National Tournament, thus any team ranked in the top 15 is assured of a berth in its respective 32-team championship.