Texas rose to its highest ranking in more than a year in The Associated Press poll of the top 25 women's basketball teams on Monday after another week of turnover among the top teams.
The Longhorns moved up two spots to No. 3 after four of the top seven teams lost at least one game last week. Texas hasn't been this high in the Top 25 since the school also placed third on Nov. 14, 2022. Texas has won seven straight games and closes the regular season this week against No. 20 Oklahoma and BYU. The Longhorns are one game behind the Sooners for first place in the Big 12.
South Carolina remained the unanimous number one team, receiving all 35 votes from the national media panel, after defeating Alabama and Kentucky. The Gamecocks captured their third consecutive Southeastern Conference regular-season championship and eighth in 11 years. They visit Arkansas on Thursday night before hosting Tennessee in the regular season finale on Sunday.
Ohio State ranked second in the survey. The Buckeyes clinched a share of the Big Ten title with their 14th straight victory on Sunday.
Stanford was fourth after splitting a pair of home games against Arizona and Arizona State. Despite the loss to the Wildcats, the Cardinal clinched at least a share of their 27th Pac-12 regular-season championship.
Virginia Tech moved up three spots to fifth place. The Hokies won 10 straight games and took at least a share of their first ACC regular season title at 14-2.
Iowa, USC and UCLA followed the Hokies. LSU moved up four spots to ninth and UConn moved up five spots to 10th. It's the first time UCLA, LSU and UConn (who were in the top five in the preseason poll) have been in the top 10 in a month.
NC State fell six spots to No. 12 after losses to North Carolina and Duke. Before the two losses, the Wolfpack had won eight of nine games. Two losses separate second and seventh in the ACC standings as of Monday; Syracuse at 13-4 is in second place and North Carolina and Duke, both 10-6, are in seventh. NC State hosts Syracuse on Thursday. The Orange are led by Dyaisha Fair, who moved into fifth place on the NCAA career scoring list on Sunday, passing Brittney Griner.
Inside and outside UNLV
UNLV re-entered the poll this week, moving to No. 24. The Rebels are tied with West Virginia in that spot. Princeton fell after losing to Columbia on Saturday. The Lions received two votes, marking the second consecutive year Columbia received points in the Top 25.
