So far, the 2024-25 NCAA women's college basketball season hasn't seen any major changes in weeks. There are some teams that have lost some tough matches here and there, but overall they have been pretty stable.
That is until last week.
In week 10, 13 of the top 25 companies in the country fell. It was an interesting week packed with a close midweek schedule and two matchups between top 10 teams.
Here are the rankings after the madness that happened two months earlier.
Top 25 women's college basketball rankings by Associated Press:
- University of California Los Angeles
- south carolina
- notre dame cathedral
- University of Southern California
- LSU
- university university
- texas
- maryland
- ohio
- TCU
- Kansas
- kentucky
- oklahoma
- north carolina
- tennessee
- duke
- Georgia Tech
- Cal
- Alabama
- west virginia
- north carolina
- michigan
- Utah
- minnesota
- oklahoma
Other people to vote for: Michigan 43, Mississippi St. 22, Indiana 14, Creighton 12, Nebraska 11, Baylor 8, Louisville 5, Harvard 3, Mississippi St. 3, Florida St. 2, Iowa 1, Vanderbilt 1.
University of Southern California survives Maryland, keeps home in mind
In the preseason, Big Ten voters chose the USC Trojans as the favorite to win the conference. of maryland terrapin They were ranked No. 4 in the same preseason poll, but that poll did not take into account head coach Brenda Frese's team's record start to the season.
In Wednesday's matchup between No. 4 USC and No. 8 Maryland, the Terrapins were off to their third best start of the season with a 14-0 record. They welcomed the Trojans on the first East Coast road trip of the Big Ten calendar, and Maryland nearly clinched the victory with a 79-74 USC victory.
Despite the legitimate hype surrounding USC sophomore guard JuJu Watkins, it was Maryland's Shan'ann Sellers who was the star of the show.
“I thought you were shy. [Sellers] She showed what a great senior leader and big-time player she is,” head coach Brenda Frese said. “I thought we preyed on her confidence.” [and] her aggression. ”
On a night when Sellers was more active in the paint, he led all scorers with 26 points on 10-of-11 shooting from the free-throw line. Sellers and the Terps played defensively, holding Watkins to 21 points on 7-of-19 shooting, and the National Player of the Year candidate was forced to foul out in the fourth quarter.
However, the Trojans' team effort was too much for the Terps. Both teams entered the fourth quarter tied, and the game remained deadlocked at 72-72 with 1:28 remaining. The person who broke that was senior transfer forward Kiki Iriafen.
It was the game-winning play for Iriafen, who led the Trojans with a plus-15 points rating, scoring 21 points and grabbing seven rebounds in 28 minutes on the court.
Iriafen was one of five Trojans to score in double digits in the win, and had a big day grabbing 15 rebounds (five offensively) on the boards for Raya Marshall.
Overall, USC's performance had a lot to do with other things the team had in mind. As wildfires raged through Southern California cities, the Trojans had a lot to juggle, not only in Maryland but also in their hometown.
“Maryland is not going to play any differently because of how they handled things at home,” Iriafen said.
Head coach Lindsey Gottlieb said, “I got a really nice email from my head of marketing at home saying your team gave us two hours to spend without thinking about what's going on.'' I received it,” he said. “I think that's what this team does without us even realizing it.We have a perspective that it's not all about basketball, but when you have these 40 minutes in front of you, We think that moment is everything to us.”
Shake up within the top 25
Of the 13 ranked losses this week, 10 occurred between Wednesday and Thursday.
Wednesday's schedule featured three ranked games. Before Maryland and the University of Southern California, the No. 25 team to play was the No. 9 Ohio State Buckeyes, who had traveled north to Ann Arbor. michigan wolverines. Freshman point guard Jaloni Cambridge led Ohio State with 22 points in the second half.erased a 16-point deficit in the second quarter and defeated the Wolverines 84-77, eliminating them from the top 25.
The Big Ten was busy midweek. nebraska cornhuskers Defeat No.20 michigan The Spartans lost 85-80, their third loss in four games.
In the Big 12, the 22nd-ranked Utah Utes hosted the 12th-ranked Utah Utes. Kansas State Wildcats It took away all home court advantage, and then some of it. Center Ayoka Lee scored 14 points for the Wildcats, putting the senior graduate student among the top 10 all-time scorers in women's college basketball. The Wildcats won 71-47, continuing their strong run despite their only loss coming to the player wearing No. 13. duke blue devils I'll be back on November 25th.
Even if people enjoyed Wednesday night's game, Thursday blew it away.
Among the Top 25, there were five games on Thursday that were decided by two possessions or went to overtime.
No.16 volunteer tennessee played against number 6 LSU Tigers And if it weren't for LSU junior guard Kailyn Gilbert, the Vols were on the verge of achieving their first top-10 win under first-year head coach Kim Caldwell. In the game-clinching basket, Gilbert made a nice circus layup with one second left.
On the other end of the excitement, the No. 14 Duke Blue Devils faced off against the No. 19 UNC Tar Heels in a Tobacco Road rivalry. The teams were tied 16-16 at halftime, highlighting the four types of basketball Duke head coach Carla Lawson has become famous for: low-scoring and defensive. North Carolina and Duke required overtime for the Tar Heels to win 53-46.
The other overtime game in the rankings took place in Atlanta. No.13 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets They lost 105-94 in double overtime, but most importantly they lost the services of talented freshman Daniel Carnegie. In the third quarter, Carnegie pulled up while running down the court, clutching his hamstring. She missed the remainder of the game and missed Kentucky's loss to unranked Louisville against Tech University on Sunday.
A pair of ranked teams also fell on Thursday night. Illinois fighting Illinois Defeat No.23 iowa hawkeyes On Sunday, they suffered another loss to unranked Indiana, 62-57. Next, number 10 oklahoma sooners The loss to Mississippi State was the Sooners' second loss in recent weeks.
South Carolina wins Texas
There was only one matchup between two ranked teams on Sunday, but it was a big one. No. 2 South Carolina hosts No. 5 Texas in Columbia. The game looked like a heavyweight pay-per-view matchup early on, but the Gamecocks already sent the Longhorns to the mat in the first quarter.
Head coach Dawn Staley's team ended the first quarter with an 18-9 lead. Texas led for just over a minute until 1:27 into the game, but never scored again.
South Carolina played relentless defense, and although they were behind Texas, the Gamecocks never gave up on any play, making any shot difficult for the visiting team. Longhorns sophomore guard Madison Booker scored seven points on 3-of-19 shooting, constantly trying to get shots in defenders' faces. Forward Kyla Oldacre had twice as many offensive rebounds as the entire Gamecocks (12-6), but still shot only 5-of-11 from the floor and gave up second-chance points. The chances of getting a clean shot were limited.
“We didn't win the rebound battle, but we did other things, like extra effort and making sure they didn't put a pass right into the post and playing behind the line in the period when we played behind something bad. “I was really focused on making sure it didn't happen,” Coach Staley said. “So let's clean that part up. But I'm really proud of them because they're playing together. They're playing for Ashlynn. [Watkins]”
The game is South Carolina's first since forward Ashlyn Watkins, a key role player off the Gamecocks' bench and a 22-23 All-SEC selection, suffered a season-ending ACL tear. It was a ranked battle.
The Shumcocks gave Watkins credit for a stifling defense that held the Longhorns to 27.8 percent shooting from the floor. Meanwhile, South Carolina shot over 50 percent (51.0 percent against Texas) for the fourth time against a power conference opponent since losing to the UCLA Bruins in November.
Sunday's blowout victory showed that the loss to the Bruins was a distant memory and put South Carolina back on top as the favorite to win the national championship.
Other stories this week
- No. 17 West Virginia lost its second conference game of the season this week, losing to lowly Oklahoma State at Oklahoma State.
- The 24th place California Golden Bears were on a tear this week as they defeated the 21st place California Golden Bears. north carolina state wolfpack Another big victory against the upstarts on Thursday. Florida State Seminoles Sunday. California held national leading scorer Tanya Latson to 13 points on 27.3 percent shooting from the floor, but Latson failed to score at least 20 points in the only game against a power conference opponent this season.
- No.3 notre dame cathedral This week, we extended our winning streak to nine games. wake forest And Clemson. The Fighting Irish haven't lost since Nov. 30 and will welcome the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets to South Bend on Thursday.
