South Carolina women's basketball holds tight near top of AP rankings
Another week, another top 25 poll that places South Carolina women’s basketball near the top. For the past several weeks, the Gamecocks have been No. 2 in the Associated Press’ top 25. USC was No. 1 before losing to UCLA late in November. Dawn Staley’s team initially fell to No. 4 in the AP poll but has played well ever since. Thanks to their winning ways and a couple of losses from teams formerly ranked ahead of them, Carolina has moved up two spots over the last month or so.
[USC-Texas WBB: Win tickets, parking]
The trend of being No. 2 continued for the 14-1 Gamecocks. When the first AP poll of 2025 dropped, South Carolina was, once again, only behind UCLA in the rankings. The undefeated Bruins have been the clear No. 1 team since knocking off the Gamecocks.
During South Carolina’s win streak, the Gamecocks haven’t played a competitive game despite playing three top-15 opponents. The only margin of victory of less than 10 points came against Duke after USC let their collective foot off the gas in the fourth quarter. Coach Staley’s unit has won nine consecutive games (six against power conference foes) by an average of 32 points.
You can see the entire AP top 25 below (overall first-place votes listed in parentheses).
- UCLA Bruins (30)
- South Carolina Gamecocks (1)
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1)
- Southern Cal Trojans
- Texas Longhorns
- LSU Tigers
- UConn Huskies
- Maryland Terrapins
- Ohio State Buckeyes
- Oklahoma Sooners
- TCU Horned Frogs
- Kansas State Wildcats
- Georgia Tech Yellowjackets
- Duke Blue Devils
- Kentucky Wildcats
- Tennessee Lady Volunteers
- West Virginia Mountaineers
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- North Carolina Tar Heels
- Michigan State Spartans
- NC State Wolfpack
- Utah Utes
- Iowa Hawkeyes
- Cal Golden Bears
- Michigan Wolverines
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South Carolina will play two more SEC contests before the AP poll comes out again next Monday. Both the Texas A&M Aggies and Texas Longhorns will bring some Lone Star flavor to Colonial Life Arena this week. The SEC rivals will look to end USC’s 49-game regular season win streak in conference play.
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Up first, the Gamecocks will play Texas A&M (who just beat a previously ranked Ole Miss squad) in Columbia. ESPN2 will broadcast the 5:00 p.m. contest against the Aggies, and the ESPN app will make it available for streaming.
Then comes one of the most highly anticipated games of the season. The No. 5 Texas Longhorns will travel to Columbia for a top-5 matchup on Sunday. The 1:00 p.m. tip will be broadcast on ESPN and streamed on the ESPN app. The winner of this contest will, without a doubt, put themselves in the driver’s seat in the Southeastern Conference standings. The two teams will play again later this season in Austin.
