Week 5 of NCAA women's basketball saw the top 25 teams inch closer to full conference play.
In a week that featured seven games between ranked teams, the Big Ten and ACC gave a brief preview of upcoming conference play, the SEC and ACC played 16 games to showcase the sport, and the South Carolina Gamecocks continued to make America forget about the early season. I stumble.
The Associated Press' top 25 women's college basketball rankings as of Week 5 are as follows:
- University of California Los Angeles
- university university
- south carolina
- LSU
- University of Southern California
- texas
- maryland
- notre dame cathedral
- duke
- oklahoma
- ohio
- TCU
- Kansas
- north carolina
- west virginia
- kentucky
- michigan
- iowa
- tennessee
- michigan
- iowa
- North Carolina State University, Ole Miss (tied for 22nd)
24. Nebraska
25. Georgia Tech
Other people to vote for: Alabama 73, Illinois 69, California 23, Stanford 18, Vanderbilt 15, Utah 14, Louisville 9, Richmond 8, South Dakota St. 8, Creighton 5, Oklahoma St. 4, Harvard 3, Florida St. 3, Texas Tech 3, Baylor 1. .
South Carolina Advantage
On Sunday night, No. 3 South Carolina and No. 9 TCU met in Fort Worth, Texas, in the most anticipated college basketball game of the weekend. The TCU Horned Frogs, led by graduate student guard Haley Van Lith, were quickly climbing up the rankings following an upset win against Notre Dame on Nov. 29.
In the first quarter, as the Horned Frogs and Siamcocks were battling, forward Sedona Prince blocked South Carolina forward Ashlynn Watkins. It wasn't a new moment for NCAA women's basketball's top blocker, but it set in motion a chain of events that perfectly represents the start of the Gamecocks' season.
TCU got the ball off the block, but Watkins continued to play. The junior forward stole the ball back as it crossed halfcourt and finished the play by dunking Prince, a forward who is 4 inches taller than Watkins.
TCU's early success in the game was quickly forgotten as South Carolina progressed. That changed by outscoring the Horned Frogs 46-21 over the next two quarters and defeating TCU 85-52..
South Carolina held Prince to two rebounds in 33 minutes and defeated TCU 36-26. That's a far cry from the 10.8 rebound average she recorded on Sunday. The Shamcocks also forced 20 turnovers, resulting in 30 points.
“We're defending like we normally do,” head coach Dawn Staley said. “I would say we're patient offensively. I mean we know what's really effective offensively. We know that when we reverse the ball, our shooting percentage goes up. Unbelievable, unbelievable.”
South Carolina's return to its “normal self” should scare other teams in the NCAA. The last time the Shamcocks lost, they had a 43-game winning streak.
Since losing to the No. 1 UCLA Bruins, Staley's teams have won three ranked games against Iowa State, Duke and now TCU, by an average margin of 28 points.
South Carolina will have a short grace period before SEC play begins on Jan. 2, playing mid-major teams until the calendar changes. Don't be surprised if the Siamcocks end up at the top of the conference then, even if they face Texas, Oklahoma and LSU in early conference rankings.
SEC-ACC Challenge
The Gamecocks' victory over Duke wasn't the only highlight this week, but four of the 16 SEC-ACC Challenge games were between top 25 schools. The SEC went 9-7 in the annual tournament, with the 11th-ranked Sooners coming from behind to beat 22nd-ranked Louisville and fifth-ranked LSU defeating an unranked but dangerous Stanford Cardinal team in overtime.
However, the tournament game was No. 10 Notre Dame vs. No. 4 Texas. Lori Harmon and Madison Booker led the Longhorns to South Bend, Indiana, to take on Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles.
The star-studded game lived up to the hype, with Harmon and Miles exchanging game-changing shots in the final seven seconds. Notre Dame was no match for Texas in overtime, defeating Texas 80-70. The Irish outscored the visiting Longhorns by five points 12-2 over Hidalgo with a team-leading 30-point performance with eight rebounds and four assists.
This was an upset in terms of top 25 standings and was one of four games in which a lower or unranked team defeated a higher ranked opponent.
These games will help build momentum for the team as the non-conference season ends and conference games approach. The Tennessee Volunteers are a great example.
This is the third time since 1981 that the University of Tennessee has entered the season unranked. The Vols were 5-0 heading into this challenge, with no wins against power conference opponents. First-year Vols head coach Kim Caldwell welcomed the Florida State Seminoles to Knoxville on Wednesday, thanks to Gee Spearman's game-winning jumper with 24 seconds left and the ensuing rebound to seal the victory. They defeated the previously ranked team 79-77. .
Tennessee's next test was even bigger on Sunday, when it faced the 17th-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes in Brooklyn, New York. In the fourth quarter, down by three points, the Vols scored 11 points and forced four turnovers, resulting in nine points.
Iowa scored one point with 3:48 left in the game, and the Vols won 78-68. The win moves the University of Tennessee into the top 25 for the first time this season and No. 19 in Monday's rankings.
Buckeyes stand out in conference play
Top 25 ACC and Big Ten teams played some of their first conference games of the season, returning to nonconference games after a short weekend of intraleague play.
This weekend's matchup in the current 18-team Big Ten Conference will pit the 12th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes against the 21st-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini. Illinois had already traveled to Columbus to start the season with a big win over then No. 1 ranked Florida State.
Although the Illini lost to the Kentucky Wildcats in late November, forward Kendall Bostic has averaged more than 15 points and rebounds per game in the past four games against Ohio State, leading the way for the top-ranked Scarlet and Gray. It meant there was a chance to defeat him. .
Additionally, the Buckeyes lost three starters due to NCAA eligibility loss, and Sunday was their first game against a power conference or ranked opponent. Fortunately for Ohio State, they still had forward Coty McMahon.
After missing four games due to injury, it was unclear if McMahon would be on the court against the Illini, but she is back in a big way.
McMahon led all Buckeyes with 25 points in the 83-74 victory. The forward was fouled eight times and showed no hesitation in her play despite it being her first game since returning from a lower leg injury.
What made McMahon's 33 minutes even more significant was the absence of point guard Gialloni Cambridge. The No. 1-ranked freshman point guard missed the game due to foul trouble, not injury. Cambridge picked up two fouls in the first quarter, but was brought back in the second quarter, where they picked up a third foul.
Cambridge scored two more points in the second half and played less than 10 of the remaining 20 minutes. Still, McMahon's play and forward Ajay Petty's strong interior play against Bostic ensured Ohio State's place in the top 25.
Other stories this week
- The other big winner in the SEC-ACC Challenge was North Carolina, who easily defeated the 14th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats at home, 72-53.
- Louisville continued to slump after losing to the Oklahoma Sooners on Wednesday and lost 85-52 to the No. 2 University Huskies on Saturday night.
