Women’s college basketball rankings: South Carolina drops to No. 4 as 43-game win streak ends

Week 3 of NCAA women's basketball featured some of the strongest games of the nonconference season so far. This weekend featured two games between four of the top six teams in the country, all located just a few miles apart. Geno Auriemma made history And the Big Ten team suffered a season-altering injury.

Here's how it affected the rankings.

Associated Press Women's College Basketball Rankings Top 25 after Week 3:

1. University of California Los Angeles
2. university university
3. notre dame cathedral
4. south carolina
5. texas
6. University of Southern California
7. LSU
8. oklahoma
9. Kansas
10. maryland
11. ohio
12. west virginia
13. duke
14. kentucky
15. iowa
16. north carolina
17. TCU
18. Ole Miss
19. illinois
20. north carolina
21. Oregon
22. iowa
23. Alabama
24. Louisville
25. nebraska

Others voting: Michigan 51, Michigan St. 25, Baylor 23, Vanderbilt 21, Stanford 17, Indiana 9, Tennessee 9, Florida St. 6, Miami 4, Richmond 4, Creighton 2, Harvard 1, Minnesota 1.

Notre Dame defeats USC

Week 3 ended with two main event matchups on campus between USC and UCLA. On Saturday, JuJu Watkins and the No. 3 Trojans welcomed the No. 6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish to the Galen Center. The game featured many star players on and off the court and ended with one team seemingly destined for a national championship.

The matchup featured two freshmen, Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo and last season's AP All-American. Juju Watkins of USC. Hidalgo showed from the beginning that the Fighting Irish were a complete package with the return of Olivia Miles and the addition of freshman Kate Koval.

Hidalgo led a Notre Dame team that dominated the Trojans off its own court. By halftime, Hidalgo had 16 points, six assists and five rebounds, but defensive pressure forced Watkins to make 2 of 9 shots in the first 20 minutes.

Watkins and USC fought back early in the second half, with the Trojan star cutting the Fighting Irish's lead to one possession as the home team scored nine of the first 13 points of the third quarter. However, Notre Dame adjusted and did not allow USC to take a shot for 10 minutes, 23 seconds from the middle of the third quarter to the fourth quarter.

Notre Dame scored 16 of the first 18 points of the fourth quarter to build a 21-point lead, but USC was unable to overcome it.

Making up for that deficit has become even more difficult because standout USC freshman Kennedy Smith is out indefinitely after undergoing surgery. Head coach Lindsey Gottlieb described Smith as the best defensive freshman to have been in the program, and it was clear she was needed.

Hidalgo led Notre Dame with 24 points, and Miles came close to a triple-double with 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Kate Koval, a 6-foot-5 freshman center, tormented the Trojans defensively in the paint, adding eight points and seven rebounds.

Watkins finished the day with 24 points in Notre Dame's 74-61 victory.

I was watching the match WNBA And in Hollywood, he's like Cameron Brink of the Los Angeles Sparks and actor Michael B. Jordan. The game appeared to be a social event for the day, with many of the participants staying in the city for Sunday's game, 13 miles away.

With this win, Notre Dame moved up three spots to third place.

UCLA ends South Carolina's winning streak

Like Saturday, Sunday saw another level of upset. No. 5 UCLA ended No. 1 South Carolina's winning streak with 43 points..

Coach Dawn Staley's Gamecocks are a target for any opponent due to their top ranking and national championship history, but the Gamecocks lost in the semifinals to Iowa, the first loss since the 2023 NCAA Tournament. .

UCLA also failed to come away with a win, defeating the Gamecocks in a wire-to-wire upset. South Carolina looks worried after losing its interior presence in Camila Cardoso, with 6-foot-7 Bruin Lauren Betts leading the way as a perimeter threat who can score. Ta.

That helped junior guard Londyn Jones most, who led the Bruins with 15 points on 5-of-5 shooting and made extra passes to find the 5-foot-4 guard from deep. Ta. Betts added 11 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks, ending South Carolina's winning streak and giving UCLA its first win against the No. 1-ranked team it had lost in its previous 20 attempts.

Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

By halftime, Staley's team trailed by 21 points, marking the first time since 2019 that South Carolina trailed by at least 20 points at halftime. The 77-62 loss marks the first time the Gamecocks have lost an away game in the regular season since December 2021. .

South Carolina guard Tehina Paopao led the Gamecocks with 18 points in 29 minutes, but it was sophomore Milesia Fulwilly's limited minutes that stood out most. Staley, who was named to the SEC All-Freshman team and won the 2024 SEC Tournament MVP, played four minutes but missed both of his shot attempts.

After UCLA's historic victory, students stormed the court to celebrate the Bruins' victory that took over the No. 1 spot in South Carolina. This is the first time in school history that UCLA has achieved the No. 1 ranking.

This is the first week since the 23-24 preseason AP poll that the Siamcocks are not ranked No. 1 in the nation.

Midwest turmoil

At Nebraska, the No. 21 Cornhuskers got off to a rough start when reigning Big Ten Rookie of the Year Natalie Potts tore her ACL against North Alabama. The injury will keep Potts sidelined for the remainder of the season and likely into the beginning of next season. It also ends Potts' premier paint partnership with senior Alexis Murkowski.

Four days later, the game against Creighton, The Cornhuskers played their first game since Potts' injury and lost to the Blue Jays.. The Blue Jays have had recent success, appearing in the past three NCAA tournaments and starting this season in the top 25, but Creighton lost two of their first three games against tournament team South Dakota State. They started the season with a loss and an 18-point loss to No. 1 South Dakota State. 10 Kansas State on November 14th.

Nebraska was the next team to face Creighton after a lopsided loss, and although the Cornhuskers got off to a strong start, they were unable to maintain their lead against the home Blue Jays. Guard Lauren Jensen scored 11 of her 31 points in the fourth quarter, and the teams swapped the lead 16 times before Creighton finally pulled away.

Creighton's win wasn't much of an upset, considering the Omaha, Nebraska, school has defeated the Cornhuskers in eight of the past nine interstate contests.

East of Nebraska, No. 8 Iowa State had its own problems. The Cyclones traveled to Cedar Falls, Iowa to play against the University of Northern Iowa. Unlike the Creighton-Nebraska rivalry, the UNI Panthers had lost four straight through Wednesday night.

Graduate student Maya McDermott, who had never beaten Iowa State in her five-year career with the Panthers, wasn't about to lose again. McDermott scored a career-high 37 points on 66.7 percent efficiency, but only nine from deep.

What made the game even sweeter for UNI was All-Missouri Valley center Grace Boffery playing in her first game after suffering a torn ACL. Despite missing their interior presence, the Panthers shocked the Cyclones in front of their home fans.

Other stories this week

• UW defeated Fairleigh Dickinson 85-41, setting Geno Auriemma the all-time winning record in college basketball. The win also included the return of former No. 1 overall freshman prospect Ajee Fudd, who hasn't played since Nov. 12, 2023, as the guard scored four points and played 12 minutes. .
• of indiana hoosiers Won second match against a ranked opponent, defeating No. 18 baylor bears. last week, Head coach Terry Moren beat Stanford at Assembly Hall to clinch the spot. Located in Bloomington, Indiana. After losing two of their first three games, the Hoosiers have now won three straight.
• Iowa State won and returned to the top 25 for the first time this season. washington state and kansas jayhawks Due to the graduation of Caitlin Clark, the Hawkeyes missed the preseason poll for the first time since the 20-21 season.