Southern California climbed to No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll Monday, its highest ranking in 39 years.
Star guard JuJu Watkins and the Trojans (26-2) climbed two spots after defeating then-No. 2 UCLA to win the Big Ten regular-season title on Saturday. USC received six first-place votes and reached its loftiest perch since it was No. 2 on Jan. 5, 1986.
Texas (29-2) received the other 25 votes to remain at No. 1 and UConn (28-3) rose two places to No. 3. The Bruins (27-2) slipped to No. 4, with South Carolina (27-3) rounding out the top five.
No. 6 Notre Dame (25-4) fell three places after a loss to Florida State, followed by North Carolina State (24-5), TCU (28-3), LSU (27-4) and Oklahoma (23-6).
The rest of the Top 25:
11. Duke (23-7)
12. Kentucky (22-6)
13. Ohio State (24-5)
14. North Carolina (25-6)
15. Maryland (23-6)
16. West Virginia (23-6)
17. Baylor (25-6)
18. Tennessee (21-8)
19. Alabama (23-7)
20. Kansas State (25-6)
21. Oklahoma State (24-5)
22. Florida State (23-7)
23. Creighton (24-5)
24. Michigan State (21-8)
25. South Dakota State (26-3)
–Field Level Media
