Women's basketball AP poll, takeaways: South Carolina flexes on Texas, ACC provides the drama and more

Three top-10 teams took losses, two top-25 teams were swept in their week of games and six unranked teams earned wins over ranked opponents.

The bulk of the action took place in the ACC, though the Big Ten came in a close second. Here’s what happened this week in women’s college basketball.

ACC brings early OTs

Eyebrows raised on Thursday night as Virginia Tech took ranked Georgia Tech to two overtimes while at the same time the Tobacco Road Rivalry slogged into its own overtime period. Cal earned another signature win, holding off NC State the same night to remind folks that Stanford is not the only talented team in the region entering a new conference due to realignment.

The Hokies (12-4, 3-2) cracked Georgia Tech’s defense, 105-94, on the road for their first Quad 1 victory of head coach Megan Duffy’s tenure. It was the first loss of the season for the Yellow Jackets (15-2, 3-2), one of the two ranked teams to be swept this week after Louisville took them out, 69-60, on Sunday. (Iowa lost to Illinois and Indiana as well.) It could very well be three losses in a row for Georgia Tech as they travel to Notre Dame (14-2, 5-0) on Thursday. Player of the year contender Hannah Hidalgo missed Sunday’s win at Clemson with an ankle injury. It was the sophomore’s first game absence.

North Carolina (15-3, 3-2) made 10 of 14 free throws in OT to win another offensively challenged, turnover-ripe contest over its rivals, 53-46. Duke head coach Kara Lawson saying it “wasn't really of the pleasurable viewing variety, probably for everybody” is the understatement of the calendar year’s first two weeks.

The Blue Devils (13-4, 4-1) blew a 16-point lead and sputtered again later in the week, edging out Virginia on the road, 60-55. Their offense has fallen off a cliff in the last two games — two of their worst, in addition to a 65-56 loss to South Florida in December. They were a combined 40 of 134 (29.8%), including 10 of 41 from 3 (24%). The only bright spot was their ability to get into the paint against Virginia. Duke falls back on its defense more often than it should if it intends to compete for a spot in the Final Four.

The win of the week is further down the standings. Pittsburgh, one of the basement-dwelling programs often feeding transfers to the top of the table, rallied from a 32-point deficit to upset SMU, 72-59, on Sunday. It matched the largest comeback in NCAA women's basketball history. And it was the first ACC win of the season for the Panthers (9-9, 1-4).

South Carolina notches another definitive Quad 1 win

The Gamecocks slammed a loud door in the Longhorns’ faces on Sunday, showing everyone the SEC is still their conference and not even an elite newcomer will have it easy.

The defense kept Texas 15 points below their previous season low in a 67-50 win at home on Sunday. The Longhorns scored nine in the first and barely broke double-digits in either of the next two quarters (13 and 12 points, respectively).

A significant amount of credit goes to senior forward Bree Hall, who shut down All-American forward Madison Booker. She neared season-lows with seven points (half her 14.8 ppg average) on 3 of 19 field goals (48% season average). Hall, the Gamecocks’ steadying presence, said she spent the prior night watching YouTube videos of Booker to study the star’s tendencies. Collectively, they had one of their best games communicating on the defensive side, she said.

South Carolina (16-1, 5-0) entered the top-five matchup differently than it intended after Ashlyn Watkins sustained a season-ending ACL tear a week prior. In between, the Gamecocks took care of Texas A&M with ease, but the Longhorns posed larger problems. Senior forward Sania Feagin, who averages 17 minutes a game on the stacked roster, played a season-high 31 minutes.

“She had a pretty good game from a statistical standpoint, but [it’s] all the other stuff, the intangibles,” head coach Dawn Staley said. “She always kept her feet above the bigs. She was communicating out there and directing. When you have someone who has sat for as long as she sat and is playing as well as she played, that is it. That’s what [we’ve been] trying to get from Feagin for three years now.”

Staley said the team had to figure itself out in the early going, and will need to do so again after losing Watkins. The league schedule will tell them who they are, she said. They're looking dominant, as always.

Two-bid Ivy is possible

Will it be back-to-back two-bid Ivy NCAA tournaments? Or could it even be a three-bid Ivy?

Princeton, Harvard and Columbia each earned Ivy League preseason votes to win the conference and are projected in or on the cusp of the NCAA field in ESPN's most recent bracketology. The race for the conference title is already shaping up nicely. Sophomore point guard Ashley Chea drained a deep buzzer-beating jumper to send Princeton over Harvard, 52-50, at home on Saturday in their first of two regular-season meetings. They’ll meet again in Massachusetts on Feb. 28.

Princeton (11-4, 2-0) is the Ivy juggernaut. The buzzer-beater was merely the program’s second in 22 years; they haven’t often needed theatrics to go 93-9 in their home gymnasium since 2009-10. The Tigers have held a share of the regular season title for six consecutive years. They were picked first in the preseason poll with 10 of 16 votes after losing three starters to graduation (Defensive Player of the Year Ellie Mitchell and former Player of the Year Kaitlyn Chen, who transferred to UConn). Madison St. Rose tore her ACL in November and is out for the year.

Harvard (12-2, 1-1) is the active mid-major darling with a standout star, senior Harmoni Turner, who ranks top-20 in scoring and fourth in steals. The Crimson rank top-40 in NET rating, the best in the Ivy with the only Quad 1 victory of the group.

And Columbia (11-4, 2-0) is fresh off its first NCAA tournament bid, marking the first time since 2016 that two Ivy League schools were selected for the tournament. The Lions tied Princeton for the regular season title. They host Princeton on Monday, Jan. 20, and head to New Jersey on Feb. 22. They play Harvard on Jan. 31 in Massachusetts and on Feb. 16 at home.

Game of the Week

Utah (13-3, 4-1 Big 12) at TCU (17-1, 5-0), Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN+) — The Utes’ Big 12 season reaches another level with a road trip to Baylor (Tuesday) and TCU. The Horned Frogs’ only loss is to South Carolina.

Official AP rankings

1. UCLA
2. South Carolina
3. Notre Dame
4. USC
5. LSU
6. UConn
7. Texas
8. Maryland
9. Ohio State
10. TCU
11. Kansas State
12. Kentucky
13. Oklahoma
14. North Carolina
15. Tennessee
16. Duke
17. Georgia Tech
18. Cal
19. Alabama
20. West Virginia
21. NC State
22. Michigan State
23. Utah
24. Minnesota
25. Oklahoma State

Yahoo Sports AP ballot

1. Notre Dame
2. UCLA
3. South Carolina
4. USC
5. Maryland
6. Texas
7. UConn
8. LSU
9. Kansas State
10. Oklahoma
11. Ohio State
12. TCU
13. Kentucky
14. Tennessee
15. North Carolina
16. Duke
17. Georgia Tech
18. Alabama
19. Michigan State
20. West Virginia
21. California
22. Utah
23. Michigan
24. NC State
25. Oklahoma State