South Carolina vaults to top of women's hoops poll
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New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - South Carolina has moved to the top of the Associated Press women's college basketball poll.
The Gamecocks are the No. 1 team in the country for the first time in the program's history, receiving 21 first-place votes and a total of 852 points from a nationwide media panel. Notre Dame finished a close second with 12 No. 1 votes and 838 points.
Connecticut had been the top-ranked team for 22 straight weeks and still picked up one first-place vote despite an overtime loss at Stanford last Monday, a setback that ended the national champions' 47-game winning streak.
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Tennessee, Stanford, Texas, Texas A&M, Duke, Kentucky and Maryland complete this week's top 10. Stanford might have been able to jump into the top spot after beating the Huskies, but fell a few days later to Texas. The Longhorns earned the last first-place vote.
The second 10 consists of North Carolina, Louisville, Baylor, California, Nebraska, Michigan State, Iowa, DePaul, Oregon State and Oklahoma State. Baylor tumbled five spots from eighth after a loss to Kentucky last week.
Rutgers, Syracuse, Georgia, West Virginia and Mississippi State are the last five teams ranked. Syracuse, Georgia and West Virginia are tied for 22nd.
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Mississippi State is the lone newcomer this week, while Gonzaga and Purdue dropped out. Gonzaga and Purdue were tied with Georgia for 24th in last week's poll.