Silent Majority rankings #10

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Collegeinsider.com mid-major poll

1. Xavier (12-2)
Last week: 1
Amber Harris had been slowed by a mild concussion, which helps explain why the Musketeers offered such feeble resistance at Stanford. But she was back to her old self Sunday with a 23-point, 11-rebound effort in a 63-59 victory over Dayton. Still, a four-point victory at home suggests there may be some intrigue to the Atlantic 10 title chase after all. On deck: Wednesday at St. Joseph's; Sunday at UMass.

2. Marist (13-2)
Last week: 2
Monday's 59-43 victory at Loyola (Md.) boosted the Red Foxes' winning streak to 9 and made them 4-0 in true road games. Marist has won its four MAAC games by an average of 21 points, which speaks to both the Red Foxes' quality and the fact that this looks like a down year for the rest of the conference. No wonder Marist is eager to re-schedule that game with Arizona State. On deck: Friday at Canisius; Sunday at Niagara.

3. Bowling Green (14-1)
Last week: 3
The Falcons' 14-game winning streak is the fourth-longest in the nation, behind West Virginia (16), Duke (15) and Miami (15). Bowling Green has also won 21 straight at Anderson Arena and are unbeaten in their last 37 regular-season home games. On deck: Wednesday vs. Akron; Saturday at Kent State.

4. Green Bay (15-1)
Last week: 4
Nice to see Green Bay back in the AP Top 25 poll (they're No. 23); we believe Marist, Bowling Green and Duquesne should be there as well. But the Phoenix will have to make do without starting guard Adrian Ritchie (10.6 ppg), who will be sidelined at least two weeks after injuring her knee during Saturday's victory over Wright State. On deck: Wednesday vs. Loyola; Saturday vs. Illinois-Chicago.

5. Duquesne (14-2)
Last week: 5
Solid 60-54 win over a good St. Bonaventure team - ask Marist how good - especially when you consider the Dukes trailed by 16 in the second half before roaring back. And Duquesne made its great escape without getting a lot from star freshman Wumi Agunbiade, who scored just 3 points in 12 minutes. On deck: Saturday at Dayton.

6. Florida Gulf Coast (12-0)
Last week: 6
Think these guys can go undefeated? Of the 18 games remaining on the Eagles' regular-season schedule, 15 are against teams with losing records, and one of the remaining three is against 7-7 Jacksonville. Of course, this doesn't mean  FGCU should start printing 30-0 T-shirts yet. Let's just say we like their run-the-table chances a bit better than those of Duke or West Virginia. On deck: Saturday vs. Kennesaw State; Monday vs. Mercer.

7. Princeton (12-3)
Last week: 7
How many teams can lose their best player and keep on keepin' on? So far these Tigers have - Saturday's 56-45 victory over Penn - Princeton's 20th straight against Ivy League foes - made them 3-0 since star sophomore Niveen Rasheed went down with a knee injury. Among those taking up Rasheed's slack is Addie Micir, who earned conference player of the week honors after scoring her 1,000th point against LaSalle and dropping 20 on Penn. Because of Princeton's uniquely timed finals/semester break, the Tigers won't return to action until Jan. 28. On deck: Nothing 'til the 28th (at Brown).

8. Gonzaga (13-4)
Last week: 8
No surprise to see Courtney Vandersloot (17.2 ppg and a Division I-leading 9.4 apg) on the Wooden Award midseason Top 20 list. And if Saturday's 81-55 victory at a pretty good Portland team is any indication, the Zags are poised to run roughshod through the West Coast Conference. On deck: Thursday at Pepperdine.

9. Middle Tennessee State (12-4)
Last week: 9
Freshman Eboni Rowe isn't just scoring a lot (17.5), she's also doing it efficiently as her 59.3 FG percentage ranks 9th in Division I. MTSU is hardly just the Rowe Show, though, as four others scored in double figures and the Blue Raiders dished out 22 assists in Saturday's 84-62 win over Louisiana Monroe. On deck: Wednesday vs. Florida Atlantic; Saturday at Arkansas State.

10. Louisiana Tech (10-5)
Last week: 10
Honolulu is a long way from Ruston, so we're not shocked that the Lady Techsters got taken to overtime by Hawaii for the third time in six years. Tech coach Teresa Weatherspoon wasn't buying it, though. "I find it hard to find any good out of this game," she said. "I take nothing away from (Hawaii's) effort. I do find a lot of fault in ours across the board." Bet practice was fun the next day. On deck: Thursday at Fresno State.

11. Tulane (13-2)
Last week: 11
Senior forward Tiffany Aidoo, who earned MVP honors during the Tulane DoubleTree Classic in late December, continued her stellar play and is the reigning Conference USA Player of the Week after averaging 18.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg and 3.0 spg in leading the Green Wave to a 3-0 week. Aidoo set a school record with 9 3-pointers Sunday against UAB. "I think she's playing as well as she has ever played in her career right now," Tulane coach Lisa Stockton said. On deck: Wednesday vs. East Carolina; Saturday at Marshall.

12. Dayton (9-6)
Last week: 12
There are more moral victories in D-I hoops, but Flyers coach Jim Jabir believes his team made a statement with Sunday's 63-59 near-miss at then-No. 9 Xavier. "I think this is representative of how we play and how good we are," Jabir told the Dayton Daily News. On deck: Wednesday at St. Louis; Saturday vs. Duquesne.

13. TCU (10-6)
Last week: 13
Saturday's 68-60 decision over UNLV was the Horned Frogs' fourth straight since their heartbreaking 3-point loss to Georgia on Dec. 22. Helena Sverrisdottir became the school's all-time leader in assists against the Lady Rebels, just one of her highlights in a game in which she also had 24 points on 7-of-7 shooting and a career-high 7 steals. On deck: Wednesday at Wyoming; Saturday vs. Colorado State.

14. Old Dominion (9-5)
Last week: 14
The Lady Monarchs are coming off an impressive 71-55 dismantling of James Madison. Big props to junior forward Tia Lewis, a Colonial Athletic Association Co-Player of the Week who over her past six games has tied her career-high in scoring in one game (24 points), matched her career high in rebounding in another (17 boards) and posted four double-doubles. On deck: Thursday at Georgia State; Sunday at Delaware.

15. Richmond (10-5)
Last week: 17
Spiders star Brittani Shells moved into second place on Richmond's all-time scoring list during her 30-point assault on George Washington in a 68-55 victory. Shells, who now has 1,789 points, passed Katie Flavin, who scored 1,770 points from 2001-05. Number one on the list remains Karen Elsner, who racked up 2,367 points from 1981-85. On deck: Wednesday vs. UMass; Sunday at Rhode Island.

16. Charlotte (12-4)

Last week: 15

The 49ers came out on the short end in one of what figures to be several nip-and-tuck games among the 4-6 Atlantic-10 contenders, a 60-57 loss to Temple. This one had to hurt, too - the 49ers led by a point until Qwedia Wallace put the Owls ahead with 5 seconds left. On deck: Wednesday vs. Fordham; Saturday at St. Joseph's.

17. Hampton (10-5)
Last week: 18
Freshman guard Nicole Hamilton has made a big impact for the depth-starved Lady Pirates, who until her arrival four games ago were essentially playing their starters until they dropped. The reigning MEAC Rookie of the Week, Hamilton celebrated her first start by scoring a game-high 17 points Monday night in Hampton's 68-37 pummeling of Morgan State. On deck: Saturday vs. Norfolk State; Monday vs. North Carolina A&T.

18. Houston (11-4)

Last week: 16

How important is Courtney Taylor to the Cougars? Well, Houston went 1-2 in the three games an injured Taylor sat out. Upon her return, she scored 16 points in the first half of a 30-point rout of Tulsa, then registered 18 points and 13 rebounds - her school-record 49th career double-double - as the Cougars outdueled SMU. On deck: Thursday vs. Southern Mississippi; Sunday at UTEP.

19. Central Michigan (10-4)

Last week: 21

The Chippewas may have surprised some non-conference teams with their high-octane style, but MAC opponents know better and will look to take some air out of the ball and slow CMU down. It worked - to a point - for Northern Illinois, which on Saturday held the Chippewas under 70 points for the first time this season. But CMU managed just enough firepower to pull out a 67-61 victory. The Chippewas are off to their best start in 20 years, since their 1990-91 team won 12 of its first 14 games. On deck: Wednesday at Eastern Michigan; Saturday at Ball State.

20. Fresno State (11-5)
Last week: NR

Bulldogs' third straight straight victory, Monday's 84-67 decision at Idaho, was a wild one as it featured bang-bang technical fouls and the ejection of Fresno State coach Adrian Wiggins for arguing a call late in the first half and a school-record 18 3-pointers. On deck: Thursday vs. Louisiana Tech; Saturday vs. New Mexico State.

21. Drexel (10-4)

Last week: 23

Injuries have taken their toll on the Dragons, who have lost point guard Marisa Crane to an ACL tear and lost Tyler Hale last week to a concussion. It says a lot for Drexel's overall roster - and coach Denise Dillon - that the Dragons were still able to pull things together Sunday and outlast Delaware. On deck: Thursday at James Madison; Sunday at William and Mary.

22. St. Joseph's (11-4)

Last week: 24

Huge opportunity for the Hawks when they host Xavier in a Wednesday matinee. A good day from the 3-point line could help, and the Hawks have had a lot of those lately. After being a subpar shooting team from distance through their first 10 games, the Hawks have made 35 of 77 from long range over their last five games. On deck: Wednesday vs. Xavier; Saturday vs. Charlotte.

23. Temple (9-6)
Last week: NR
Surviving last week's 60-57 war at Charlotte suggests the Owls have found their hard-nosed, defense-first style form just in time to be a factor in the Atlantic 10 race. On deck: Wednesday vs. Rhode Island; Saturday at Fordham.

24. James Madison (9-6)
Last week: 20
The Dukes sorely missed senior forward Lauren Jimenez in Sunday's 71-55 loss at Old Dominion. Jimenez, who ranks second to Dawn Evans in scoring (13.4 ppg) and leads all Dukes with 9.3 rpg, sat out after experiencing concussion-like symptoms the night before the game. The loss snapped JMU's four-game winning streak. On deck: Thursday vs. Drexel; Sunday at George Mason.

25. Memphis (13-3)

Sunday's 87-75 victory over East Carolina was the Tigers' 10th straight since a loss to Kansas on Nov. 27. On deck: Thursday vs. UTEP; Sunday at UAB.

Hey, what about us?

Nevada (12-3) - Even being in the midst of the best start in program history couldn't prevent the Wolf Pack from falling to Idaho for the third straight time, this one at home in a nationally televised (ESPNU) contest. The good news is the senior Tahnee Robinson returned to the lineup. Robinson missed two games due to the death of her grandfather. 

Lamar (12-3) - Winners of seven straight including a 69-60 upset of Houston.

UC Davis (12-4) - Fell at Cal Poly 74-65; the Aggies' 2nd loss in 4 games.

Missouri State (12-4) - Split two games last week, losing at Northern Iowa and winning at Bradley.

St. Bonaventure (10-6) - Bonnies had Duquesne right where they wanted 'em, but....

Illinois State (10-4) - Dropped a 74-55 decision Saturday at Indiana State.

Arkansas Little-Rock (9-5) - The Trojans have won six straight since a loss to Memphis and have held four of those opponents under 50 points.

UNC Wilmington (10-4) - Picked to finish 8th in the CAA, the Seahawks continue to play like a title contender.

San Diego State (6-8) - A career-high 29-point night from sophomore Courtney Clements wasn't enough in an overtime loss to Utah.

UC Irvine (11-4) - Notched their 5th straight victory with a 77-59 decision over Long Beach State.

VCU (8-5) - The Rams are 4-0 since transfer guard Andrea Barbour established eligibility. Junior forward Courtney Hurt is one of the nation's breakout stars.