Stanford and Iowa jumped behind top-ranked South Carolina in the Associated Press poll of the Top 25 in women's basketball, as the top 10 got into the shuffling on the eve of the conference tournaments, and Fairfield topped the rankings for the first time in school history.
Stanford moved back into second place after sweeping the weekend at Oregon and Oregon State. Iowa State knocked then no. 2 Ohio State on Sunday behind Caitlin Clark, who He became the NCAA Division I scoring leader during the game. The Big Ten champion Buckeyes fell to fourth place.
While Iowa State has been a top 25 team all season, Fairfield made its debut, coming in at No. 25. The Stags (26-1) have won 24 straight games and are the only team in the country besides South Carolina that is unbeaten by one game. Or less losses
“It's a great moment. This place is special,” the Fairfield coach said Carly Thibault Dodonis He said. “One of the main reasons I came here is because it was a program that was about to be on the national stage. We're definitely going to celebrate it. We talk a lot about a team enjoying the moment and being in the moment. This is a big moment.”
The Gamecocks are in a familiar place atop the poll after finishing their regular season undefeated for the second year in a row. Dawn Staley's team is the top seed in the SEC Tournament this week.
Southern California came in fifth, its highest ranking since 1994 when the team finished fourth. Texas fell three spots to sixth.
UCLA, LSU and UConn were next. NC State moved up two spots to 10th, overtaking ACC regular-season champion Virginia Tech, which fell six spots to 11th.
The Stags, who replaced West Virginia in the poll, have broken the school record for wins in a season and have two games remaining in the regular season. Fairfield has 14 true road victories which is as many as St. Joseph's in the country.
“I think we knew we were going to be very good. I use that term a lot, cautiously optimistic. I couldn't imagine what we had done up to this point,” Thibault Dudonis said. “We have good senior leadership and a healthy balance of seniors and juniors. We have continued to learn and grow along the way.”
The ACC is next with five teams. The Big 12 has four, and the Big 10 has three. The SEC and Big East each have two. The West Coast and Mountain West join the MAAC with one each. All of the Power Five conferences have their tournaments this week.
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