South Carolina still No. 1, Syracuse to Top 25

South Carolina started the new year where it finished off 2023 — atop The Associated Press women’s basketball poll.

The Gamecocks received 34 of the 35 first-place votes from a national media panel Monday. They had been unanimous the previous six weeks.

UCLA got the other No. 1 vote after beating then-No. 6 USC in a Los Angeles showdown Saturday. The No. 2 Bruins have now defeated four top-25 teams, with two wins coming at neutral sites and one on the road.

Syracuse entered the poll at No. 25, marking its first appearance since Jan. 18, 2021. The Orange beat then-No. 13 Notre Dame on Sunday. The Irish fell to 16th. The Orange (11-1) have lost only to Maryland and will next play at North Carolina on Thursday. Syracuse is off to its best start since 2017-18, and the Orange hope to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2021.

The Tar Heels fell out of the Top 25, ending a 34-week streak in the poll. That was the seventh-longest active run.

No. 3 North Carolina State and Iowa followed UCLA. Colorado moved up three spots to No. 5 after a win over then-No. 12 Utah.

Baylor climbed in the rankings to No. 6, up four places after a win over then-No. 5 Texas. The Longhorns, who lost star Rori Harmon to an ACL injury last week, dropped to 10th.

No. 7 LSU, Stanford and USC followed the Bears.

CLIMBING THE RECORD BOOKS: Iowa star Caitlin Clark moved into fifth on the Division I all-time scoring list after a 35-point effort in a win over Minnesota. She has 3,149 points and trails Kelsey Plum (3,527), Kelsey Mitchell (3,402), Jackie Stiles (3,393) and Brittney Griner (3,283).

Clark also moved to No. 1 on the Big Ten all-time assists list with 904. She passed Samantha Prahalis’ 901 and has helped the Hawkeyes to a 10-game winning streak, their longest since 2004-05.

RISING HUSKIES: UConn moved up three spots to No. 12 after routing then-No. 18 Marquette on Sunday. The Huskies have steadily climbed in the poll after falling to a 30-year low of 17th in early December. Next up for Geno Auriemma’s team is a trip to Nebraska to face No. 21 Creighton on Wednesday.