AP Women's College Basketball Poll 2024: UCLA No. 1 After South Carolina Upset
UCLA climbed to the top of the Associated Press Top 25 poll after its 77-62 upset of South Carolina on Sunday.
The Bruins moved up four spots from No. 5, while the previously top-ranked Gamecocks slipped to fourth.
Week 4 AP Top 25
1. UCLA
2. UConn
3. Notre Dame
4. South Carolina
5. Texas
6. USC
7. LSU
8. Oklahoma
9. Kansas State
10. Maryland
11. Ohio State
12. West Virginia
13. Duke
14. Kentucky
15. Iowa State
16. North Carolina
17. TCU
18. Ole Miss
19. Illinois
20. North Carolina State
21. Oregon
22. Iowa
23. Alabama
24. Louisville
25. Nebraska
South Carolina's winning streak was going to end sooner or later. The team reeled off 43 straight victories dating back to last year.
Nobody expected the Gamecocks to get beat in a game in which they never led and trailed by as many as 23 points.
"This is what we usually do to teams," head coach Dawn Staley told reporters. "It doesn't feel good when you're on the receiving end of it.
"But you also know you got beat by a great team. That was beautiful basketball by UCLA, beautiful on both sides. It was fluid on both sides of the ball."
Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice scored 11 points apiece for UCLA, with Betts hauling in 14 rebounds for her fourth double-double in five games. Londynn Jones also came off the bench to hit five three-pointers.
South Carolina wasn't the only Top Five program to go down by double digits. Notre Dame went on the road and earned a 74-61 win over USC.
The battle of star sophomores was basically a stalemate. The Fighting Irish's Hannah Hidalgo had 24 points, six rebounds, eight assists and five steals. The Trojans' JuJu Watkins posted a nearly identical stat line (24 points, six rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block).
HIdalgo's defense did, however, play a big role in Notre Dame holding USC to 35.8 percent shooting, including 1-of-13 from beyond the arc.
Elsewhere in the AP poll, Iowa State was a big faller, going from eighth to 15th thanks to an 87-75 defeat to Northern Iowa. Meanwhile, the voters rewarded Illinois for a 5-0 start by putting the Fighting Illini up to 19th, a three-spot improvement.
