Women’s college basketball power rankings: South Carolina, Iowa on top; LSU at No. 10
This past weekend, Caitlin Clark inched even closer to becoming the NCAA women’s basketball all-time leading scorer. With another magical performance – this time with a stat line of 38 points and 12 assists in a 93-85 road win over Maryland on Saturday night – the Iowa superstar is only 66 points shy of breaking Kelsey Plum’s record.
With the dominant road win, the Hawkeyes could move up a spot in the AP Top 25 poll this week, which will be aided by the fact that the nation’s No. 2 team, Kansas State, lost to No. 12Texas, 61-54, in Austin on Sunday.
In other top 25 action, things mostly remained status quo. For example: No. 1 South Carolina pummeled Ole Miss, 85-56, No. 9LSUcrushed Florida, 106-66, No. 14 Notre Dame toppled Pittsburgh, 78-53, and No. 17 Virginia Tech beat No. 24 North Carolina, 70-61 in overtime behind Elizabeth Kitley‘s 15 points and 15 rebounds.
There were a few spicy top-10 matchups on Sunday, including No. 8 Ohio State edging No. 10 Indiana, 74-69, and then No. 4 Stanford beating No. 7 UCLA, 80-60. This was a revenge victory for the Cardinal, who were upset at home on Friday night by No. 15 USC when freshman phenom JuJu Watkins dropped 51 points on 14-of-26 shooting in a 67-58 win. Watkins is the only player to score 50 points in a game this season and is the front-runner to take home Freshman of the Year honors. She finished out the weekend with 29 points in the Trojans’ 79-69 win over Cal on Sunday afternoon.
Here are this week’s women’s college basketball top 10 power rankings:
1. South Carolina
Record: 21-0, 9-0
Weekly results: Defeated Auburn, 76-54; defeated Ole Miss, 85-56
2. Iowa
Record: 21-2, 10-1
Weekly results: Defeated Northwestern 110-74; defeated Maryland, 93-85
3. North Carolina State
Record: 19-2, 7-2
Weekly results: Defeated No. 24 North Carolina, 63-59
4. Colorado
Record: 19-3, 9-2
Weekly results: Defeated Washington State, 63-57; defeated Washington, 80-57
5. Ohio State
Record: 19-3, 10-1
Weekly results: Defeated Wisconsin, 87-49; defeated No. 10 Indiana, 74-69
6. Kansas State
Record: 20-3, 9-2
Weekly results: Lost to Oklahoma, 66-63; lost to No. 12 Texas, 61-54
7. Stanford
Record: 20-3, 9-2
Weekly results: Lost to No. 15 USC, 67-58; defeated No. 7 UCLA, 80-60
8. Texas
Record: 21-3, 8-3
Weekly results: Defeated No. 13 Baylor, 67-55; defeated No. 2 Kansas State, 61-54
9. UCLA
Record: 17-4, 6-4
Weekly results: Defeated Cal, 78-58; lost to No. 4 Stanford, 80-60
10. LSU
Record: 19-4, 6-3
Weekly results: Lost to Mississippi State, 77-73; defeated Florida, 106-66
Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of “Strong Like a Woman,” published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her on Twitter @LakenLitman.
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