South Carolina coach Dawn Staley confers with striker Aliyah Boston on the sideline during the second half of the NCAA team’s college basketball game against the State of Mississippi in Starkville, Mississippi, Thursday, January 28, 2021. South Carolina won 75-52. (AP Photo / Rogelio V. Solis)
Coach Dawn Staley has South Carolina back, where her team began the season: first in the Associated Press women’s college basketball poll.
Gamecocks regained first place on Monday, receiving 29 of the 30 first-place votes from a national media panel.
They probably won’t be there for long. Gamecocks dropped 63-59 in overtime on Monday night to No. 2 UConn in the 60th all-time clash between the top two teams in the survey. It was only the second game of overtime at those meetings.
South Carolina, which originally fell from first place after losing to the state of North Carolina, beat the Huskies last season for the first time in eight attempts. But the Gamecocks failed to take down UConn twice in a row.
UConn moved up one position to No. 2 on Monday after then-No. 1 Louisville lost at home to No. 4 NC State last week. The Cardinals fell to third place and Wolfpack remained in fourth. They lost to North Carolina unrated on Sunday.
No. 5 Stanford, Texas A&M and Baylor each rose one place, while UCLA, Maryland and Arizona completed the top 10. Arizona won in No. 11 Oregon on Monday night.
The University of Arkansas fell from 16th to 18th place after its last second loss at Texas A&M.
The state of Mississippi left the poll for the first time since 2014, ending a string of 125 consecutive weeks in the Top 25. The Bulldogs have not played since January 28 and have fallen in their last three competitions.