LILBURN, Ga. — The Fort Lewis College women's basketball team, which advanced to the 2010 NCAA Division II championship game, is ranked 12th in the USA TODAY ESPN Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll, released by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) today.

The Skyhawks, who set school and league records for its 35-4 record (18-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) last year, are the only RMAC school to appear in the Top 25, although three others — Colorado Mines, Adams State and CSU-Pueblo — received votes.

Arkansas Tech is ranked No. 1 with 15 first place votes. Rounding out the top five are Delta State (Miss.), Tusculum (Tenn.), Lander (S.C.) and Holy Family (Pa.). Emporia State, the team that defeated Fort Lewis in last year's national championship game, is ranked sixth.

The Skyhawks open their regular season at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 13 against Eastern New Mexico University in Whalen Gymnasium. They'll tune up for the season this week when they travel to a trio of NCAA Division I opponents for exhibition games: Utah Valley at 4:30 p.m. tonight, Brigham Young at 6 p.m. tomorrow and Arizona State at 2 p.m. Sunday.