Notre Dame climbs to No. 3 in women's hoops poll

Field Level Media|published: Mon 16th December, 14:12 2024

Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey and guard Hannah Hidalgo (3) hug after winning a NCAA women's basketball game 80-70 against Texas in overtime at Purcell Pavilion on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, in South Bend.

Notre Dame rose five spots to No. 3 as UCLA remained the top-ranked team in the Associated Press Top 25 women's college basketball poll released Monday.

The Fighting Irish notched a 79-68 home win Thursday over previous No. 2 UConn, which dropped two spots to No. 4. Notre Dame (9-2) has victories over top-five teams this season in Southern California, Texas and UConn, and a loss to then-No. 17 TCU.

The No. 1 Bruins (10-0) received 30 of 32 first-place votes, followed by South Carolina (10-1) and Notre Dame, which each got one first-place vote.

UConn (9-1) and LSU (12-0) round out the top five, with the Tigers sliding down one spot.

Texas (10-1) remained at No. 6, with Southern California (10-1), Maryland (10-0), Duke (9-2) and Oklahoma (9-1) comprising the rest of the top 10.

Georgia Tech, off to a program-best 11-0 start, jumped eight spots -- the largest gain of the week -- from No. 25 to No. 17 following an 82-76 victory over North Carolina. The Tar Heels fell five places to No. 19.

Cal (12-1), which snapped a 12-game losing streak in the series against Stanford with an 83-63 win on Friday, entered the Top 25 at No. 24 for the Golden Bears' first spot in the rankings since 2019.

Iowa State, which was No. 18, fell out of the rankings after losing to Iowa (9-2), which is now No. 22.

The rest of the Top 25:

11. Ohio State (10-0)

12. TCU (10-1)

13. Kansas State (11-1)

14. West Virginia (10-1)

15. Michigan State (10-0)

16. Kentucky (9-1)

17. Georgia Tech (11-0)

18. Tennessee (8-0)

19. North Carolina (10-2)

20. Michigan (9-1)