October 20, 2025
HELENA, Mont. – Dakota State (S.D.) was tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the 2025-26 Frontier Conference Women’s Basketball title, the coaches’ poll was announced Monday morning by the conference office.
Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams. The Frontier Conference has expanded to 12 full-time institutions this year.
First place is worth 11 points, second place is worth 10 points, third place is worth nine points, and so on to the last place with one point.
The Trojans, who won their fifth straight conference title last season and advanced to the second round of the NAIA National Tournament, completed their 2024-25 season with an overall record of 25-5. DaSU collected 11 first-place votes and 121 points to capture the top spot in the preseason poll.
Carroll (Mont.) and Rocky Mountain (Mont.) earned a tie for second place in the conference preseason poll, with each recording 101 points in the poll. Both teams advanced to the NAIA National Tournament’s First Round. The Battlin’ Bears won the 2025 Frontier Conference regular season title and advanced to the postseason tournament’s championship game.
Providence (Mont.), who won the Frontier Conference postseason tournament title last season, collected 91 points to finish fourth in the preseason poll. Montana Tech picked up the final first place vote and tallied 81 points to finish fifth. Both the Argos and the Orediggers advanced to the first round of the 2025 NAIA National Tournament.
Bellevue (Neb.) finished sixth in the preseason poll with 68 points. Montana State-Northern edged Valley City State (N.D.) by three points (58-55) to finish seventh. Mayville State (N.D.) was ninth with 37 points, followed by Dickinson State (N.D.) 10
th with 35 points, Montana Western 11
th with 32 points, and Bismarck State (N.D.) 12
th with 12 points.
The 2025-26 NAIA Women’s Basketball officially kicks off their season on Thursday.
Each Frontier Conference school will play a total of 22 conference games on their 2025-26 schedule, playing home-and-away contests. They are scheduled to play 11 home league games and 11 road conference contests.
The first conference contests of the season are scheduled for mid-November with traveling partners facing each other.
The top eight teams in the Frontier Conference standings will advance to the postseason tournament, hosted by Montana Tech at Civic Center in Butte. The four-day conference tournament begins with a pair of quarterfinals on Feb. 27 (Friday – 12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Mountain Time) and Feb. 28 (Saturday – 12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Mountain Time), followed by the semifinals on March 1 (Sunday – 12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Mountain Time), and the championship game on March 2 (Monday) at 5 p.m. (Mountain Time).
The Frontier Conference will have two automatic bids for the NAIA Women’s Basketball National Tournament, starting with the First and Second Rounds on March 13-14, 2026. The opening round winners advance to the final site at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa, on March 19-24, 2026.
The first automatic berth will be awarded to the regular-season champion. The second berth will be awarded to the Frontier Conference Postseason Tournament Champion. In the event the regular-season champion is the tournament champion, then the second berth will be awarded to the regular-season runner-up.
Below is the complete 2025-26 Frontier Conference Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Preseason Poll:
| 2025-26 Frontier Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason Coaches’ Poll |
| Rank |
School (First Place Votes) |
Total Points |
| 1 |
Dakota State (S.D.) (11) |
121 |
| T2 |
Carroll (Mont.) |
101 |
| T2 |
Rocky Mountain (Mont.) |
101 |
| 4 |
Providence (Mont.) |
91 |
| 5 |
Montana Tech (1) |
81 |
| 6 |
Bellevue (Neb.) |
68 |
| 7 |
Montana State-Northern |
58 |
| 8 |
Valley City State (N.D.) |
55 |
| 9 |
Mayville State (N.D.) |
37 |
| 10 |
Dickinson State (N.D.) |
35 |
| 11 |
Montana Western |
32 |
| 12 |
Bismarck State (N.D.) |
12 |
Don’t forget to download the Frontier Conference app, in partnership with Snap! Mobile. The app is free to download in the
App Store on Apple or
Google Play for Android.
Click here to download the Frontier Conference app.