UConn continued its dominant run through the regular season.
The Huskies remained No. 1 in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll Monday for the 20th consecutive week after beating then-No. 2 South Carolina and Temple last week. The Huskies have won 61 straight games and six consecutive victories in matchups between the top two teams in the AP poll. They play Cincinnati and East Carolina this week having won their first 24 games by an average of nearly 40 points.
The Gamecocks dropped one spot to third, switching places with Notre Dame. South Carolina faced No. 24 Tennessee Monday night.
The Lady Vols won their lone game last week against Vanderbilt to stay in the Top 25 for a 565th consecutive week. They have a busy week hosting the Gamecocks and Mississippi on Thursday before visiting LSU on Sunday.
Baylor and Ohio State were fourth and fifth. Maryland, Oregon State, Texas, Arizona State and Florida State round out the first 10 teams in the Top 25.
Syracuse re-entered the poll at No. 23 after dropping out of the rankings in early December. The Orange have won a season-best six straight games to get back into the poll.
“We’re healthy and rested and ready,” Syracuse coach Quentin Hillsman said. “As you get towards the end of the season, the kids understand what you’re trying to do. The system’s clicking a little bit and we’ve been able to keep our players on the floor. We had Notre Dame and Louisville back to back in a short turnaround. They are two of the top 10 teams in the country.”
The Orange are led by a strong group of seniors who will be playing their final home game on Thursday against No. 10 Florida State. They have the best winning percentage in school history, winning 72.4 percent of their games. They have 89 wins as a group — seven shy of the school record.
“They’ve been remarkable,” Hillsman said. “They are the winningest senior class in Syracuse history. They’ve done so much for our program with consistency and winning. Good contributors and good locker room kids that changed our program.”
Here are some other tidbits from the poll:
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DOUBLE-RANKED GAMES
No. 11 Louisville will host 19th-ranked South Florida on Monday night in a non-conference matchup. The two teams are no strangers to each other, having faced off many times in the old Big East. That’s one of six games this week featuring two ranked teams. Another intriguing game occurs Sunday when seventh-ranked Oregon State hosts No. 12 UCLA. The Beavers will try and hold on to their slim lead in the Pac-12.
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GETTING RECOGNIZED
Army has won 11 straight games to match the second-largest streak in program history. The Black Knights are one victory short of tying the school record set in 2006-07. That season was the last time that Army received votes in the Top 25 until Monday. Army received one 25th place vote in this week’s poll.
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To see how the pollsters voted: http://collegebasketball.ap.org/Womens-Top-25-2016-15
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