HAMDEN, CT – For the second straight week, the Quinnipiac women's basketball team earned the No. 5 ranking in the College Insider Mid-Major Poll, as announced by the committee on Tuesday, Dec. 6. This also marks the third straight week in which the Bobcats have been ranked within the Top 5 of the national mid-major poll.
South Dakota State continued their run atop the poll in the mid-major rankings with 26 first place votes out of a possible 31. Green Bay, Gonzaga and Ohio follow before the Bobcats checked in at No. 5 to round out the Top 5. Quinnipiac stands as the only MAAC institution ranked in the poll as the defending conference champion Iona dropped out of the Top 25 two polls ago. Earlier this season, Quinnipiac defeated then-No. 7 ranked FGCU who now holds the No. 23 spot in the mid-major ranks while the Bobcats turned around and defeated a Dayton squad not far removed from a 2015 Elite Eight run earlier this season.
Quinnipiac's No. 5 ranking is one spot higher than the program's previous-highest rank heading into the 2016-17 season (No. 6) achieved during the Bobcats' 2014-15 season wherein the team finished 31-4 and won the 2015 MAAC Championship. Quinnipiac has vaulted all the way up from the No. 13 rank in the preseason poll while the markup also is reflected in the total points as Quinnipiac checked in with 641 this week compared to 345 in the preseason poll for a +296 improvement.
The Bobcats opened MAAC play this past week in dominating fashion as Quinnipiac started with a 84-51 road win at Saint Peter's on Thursday followed by a 73-47 victory at home over Siena. Defeating the two MAAC foes by an average margin of +29.5, Quinnipiac is tied with Rider for the top spot in the conference standings through the opening week at 2-0. A balanced team, Quinnipiac owns the highest-scoring average of any team in the MAAC (70.2 PPG) while also holding the best field goal percentage defense (35.9) in the conference.
