South Carolina beat a top opponent to remain No. 1 in The Associated Press women’s college basketball poll released Monday and now has a showdown with another one looming this weekend.
The Gamecocks (23-0) topped then-No. 5 UConn 81-77 on Sunday to remain unbeaten and stay the unanimous choice atop the poll from the 28-member national media panel. After facing Auburn on Thursday, South Carolina will play No. 3 LSU on Sunday in a matchup of the last two unbeatens in Division I women’s college basketball.
Dawn Staley’s team has won 29 consecutive games and has been No. 1 in the poll for 33 consecutive weeks. That’s one week short of tying the Huskies for the third-longest streak atop the poll. Only UConn (51 weeks) and Louisiana Tech (36) have had longer runs at No. 1.
While South Carolina has had a stranglehold on No. 1 for more than a year, Indiana – with Gorham’s Mackenzie Holmes, is making its first appearance ever at No. 2 after Stanford lost to Washington.
“I’m going to relish this for a minute, knowing where the program was to where it is,” Indiana Coach Teri Moren said. “We’ve made a lot of history since we’ve been here in our nine seasons and it’s one of the more historical things we’ve been able to accomplish. Give our players credit, I don’t want to discount what a big achievement this is. We’re more than humbled to be No. 2.”
Indiana has won 10 straight since suffering its lone loss of the season to Michigan State. The Hoosiers have a tough stretch coming up, starting with a home game against No. 5 Iowa on Thursday. Indiana, which hadn’t been ranked higher than fourth before Monday, then plays No. 13 Ohio State and 12th-ranked Michigan.
LSU remained at No. 3 after close wins over Tennessee, Georgia and Texas A&M. The Tigers have a week to prepare for the Gamecocks.
UConn moved up one spot to fourth after its close loss to the Gamecocks and Iowa was fifth.
BATES 68, SOUTHERN MAINE 56: Alexandra Long had 15 points as the Bobcats (11-10) beat the Huskies (5-16) in Gorham.
Ava James added 13 points for Bates, while Vanessa Vaughn had 18 points for USM.
ST. JOSEPH’S 75, COLBY-SAWYER 31: The Monks (17-4, 12-1 GNAC) opened the game with a 24-8 first quarter and were never challenged as they topped the Chargers (8-13, 6-7) at New London, New Hampshire.
Elizabeth Stapelfeld had 20 points, going 4 of 6 from long range, to lead St. Joseph’s. Nina Howe added 14 and Hailey Anderson scored 11.
Elyza Mitchell had 10 points for Colby-Sawyer.
(11) VIRGINIA TECH 73, (22) N.C. STATE 61: Georgia Amoore scored a career-high 27 points with five 3-pointers, Elizabeth Kitley had 25 points and 14 rebounds and visiting Virginia Tech (19-4, 9-4 ACC) beat North Carolina State (16-7, 6-6) in the Play4Kay game.
Virginia Tech won at N.C. State for the first time in 13 meetings and improved to 3-26 overall in the series.
The 18th annual Play4Kay event celebrated the life of head coach Kay Yow.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
(19) MIAMI 81, DUKE 59: Norchad Omier had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Jordan Miller added 16 points and host Miami (19-5, 10-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) had little trouble on the way to a win over Duke (17-7, 8-5).
Wooga Poplar scored 14 and Isaiah Wong scored 11 for Miami, which led by as many as 26 and improved to 13-0 at home.
Ryan Young and Dereck Lively II each scored 11 points for Duke, which saw its three-game winning streak snapped.
POLL: Purdue’s unquestioned grip on No. 1 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll is gone after a weekend loss. That didn’t stop the Boilermakers from remaining at the top anyway.
The Boilermakers earned 38 of 62 first-place votes in the poll to remain at No. 1 for a third straight week and seventh time this season. Purdue was the unanimous choice last week, the first for any team this season, before falling at Indiana over the weekend for only its second loss.
The loss meant Houston collected 22 first-place votes as it rose one spot to No. 2, followed by No. 3 Alabama and No. 4 Arizona in each claiming one.
Texas jumped five spots to No. 5, shooting past Tennessee, which fell four spots to No. 6 after losing last week at Florida.
FOOTBALL
IOWA: Offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz is taking a pay cut as part of a new contract that will reward him if the Hawkeyes average 25 points and win at least seven games next season – and make it easier to fire him if they don’t.
The athletic department released an amended contract for Ferentz, Iowa’s offensive coordinator since 2017. The son of Coach Kirk Ferentz, a former UMaine coach, has been a frequent target of criticism for nepotism and because of the Hawkeyes’ lack of production the past two years.
The amended contract calls for Brian Ferentz to receive a salary of $850,000 this year, a $50,000 pay cut, and his two-year rolling contract has been put on hold.
But if Iowa wins seven games and increases its scoring average to 25 points, he will be paid a lump sum of $112,500, have his salary raised to $925,000 and go back to having a two-year rolling contract.
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