Anne Simon, who matched a career high with 34 points, including a career-best eight 3-pointers in the University of Maine’s loss to James Madison, was named Monday as the America East Player of the Week for the fourth time this season.
Simon finished 11 of 27 from the floor, including 8 of 18 on 3-pointers. She has at least 27 points in three of her last five games.
Simon also moved to seventh on Maine’s career steals list and ninth on 3-pointers made.
Simon and the Black Bears return to action on Wednesday against Duquesne in New Orleans at the Tulane Holiday Classic.
AP POLL: South Carolina remained the unanimous No. 1 in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll on Monday, while Washington was ranked for the first time since 2017.
The Gamecocks received all 36 votes from a national media panel after winning their only game last week in a rout. Many teams were finishing off their break for exams and there wasn’t much movement, with the top 10 unchanged from the previous week.
UCLA, North Carolina State, Iowa and Texas followed South Carolina. The second-ranked Bruins face No. 13 Ohio State on Monday night. That’s one of the only meetings between two AP Top 25 teams this week because schools have a short week because of the holidays.
Southern California, LSU, Colorado, Stanford and Baylor were next. The 10th-ranked Bears beat then-No. 24 Miami on Sunday.
The Hurricanes fell out of the Top 25 and were replaced by No. 25 TCU, which made its first appearance in the poll since 2020. Washington also entered at No. 23, the first time it has been ranked since the final poll in 2017. The Huskies’ first game as a ranked team will be at No. 19 Louisville on Wednesday.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
AP POLL: Purdue’s slide from No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll turned out to be brief.
The Boilermakers headlined Monday’s latest poll for the second time this season after beating former No. 1 Arizona over the weekend. The Wildcats had spent two weeks at No. 1 after Purdue’s loss to Northwestern ended the Boilermakers’ stint at the top after one week.
Purdue received 48 of 62 first-place votes in the latest poll to jump from third with the Arizona win, which marked the program’s first win against a No. 1 team in 23 years. It also marked the latest impressive nonconference win to a resume that already includes ranked teams in Gonzaga, Tennessee and Marquette.
Preseason No. 1 Kansas stayed at No. 2 with six first-place votes, while Houston moved up one spot to No. 3 and had the other eight votes. Arizona fell to fourth.
UConn, Marquette, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky and Baylor rounded out the top 10.
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