Dakota Wesleyan women’s basketball was ranked No. 12 in the NAIA preseason Top 25 poll. Thomas More was ranked No. 1. Morningside was the highest-ranked GPAC team at No. 3. The full top 25 is below.
| RANK | LAST TIME | SCHOOL [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] | RECORD | POINTS |
| 1 | 3 | Thomas More (Ky.) [19] | 32-4 | 590 |
| 2 | 2 | Westmont (Calif.) [2] | 27-5 | 570 |
| 3 | 6 | Morningside (Iowa) | 30-6 | 515 |
| 4 | 5 | Campbellsville (Ky.) | 31-6 | 505 |
| 4 | 11 | Carroll (Mont.) | 27-8 | 505 |
| 6 | 1 | Southeastern (Fla.) | 33-2 | 492 |
| 7 | 4 | Marian (Ind.) | 30-5 | 480 |
| 8 | 14 | Clarke (Iowa) | 31-5 | 478 |
| 9 | 15 | Central Methodist (Mo.) | 31-6 | 470 |
| 10 | 8 | Wayland Baptist (Texas) | 33-4 | 418 |
| 11 | 12 | Indiana Wesleyan | 30-5 | 409 |
| 12 | RV | Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) | 27-8 | 357 |
| 13 | 12 | Sterling (Kan.) | 32-3 | 331 |
| 14 | 9 | Bryan (Tenn.) | 32-2 | 324 |
| 15 | 21 | Dordt (Iowa) | 29-9 | 267 |
| 15 | RV | Georgetown (Ky.) | 22-12 | 267 |
| 17 | 25 | Loyola (La.) | 23-6 | 266 |
| 18 | 7 | The Master’s (Calif.) | 31-3 | 251 |
| 19 | NR | Vanguard (Calif.) | 13-12 | 228 |
| 20 | 20 | Rio Grande (Ohio) | 32-3 | 200 |
| 21 | RV | Rust (Miss.) | 26-4 | 197 |
| 22 | 19 | Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) | 25-5 | 182 |
| 23 | NR | Montana Western | 15-14 | 174 |
| 24 | 17 | Indiana Tech | 30-3 | 146 |
| 25 | 10 | Rocky Mountain (Mont.) | 29-5 | 142 |
Receiving Votes: Dakota State (S.D.) 123, St. Francis (Ill.) 107, Mid-America Christian (Okla.) 82, Cumberlands (Ky.) 54, MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 32, Northwestern (Iowa) 30, Midway (Ky.) 28, Bethel (Tenn.) 26, Xavier (La.) 23, Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) 23, Columbia (Mo.) 21, Eastern Oregon 14, Saint Xavier (Ill.) 10, Tabor (Kan.) 10, IU South Bend (Ind.) 9, Faulkner (Ala.) 8, Benedictine (Kan.) 4, Pikeville (Ky.) 4, LSU Shreveport (La.) 4