The second week of the women’s college basketball season featured some high-level matchups, upsets and star power showcasing their talents. Here’s On3’s updated Top 25 following the second week of competition.
South Carolina remained undefeated this week and still has one of the best resume wins of the young season over NC State on a neutral court. Chloe Kitts returned to play, and the Gamecocks dominated both Coppin State and East Carolina at home.
Following a big resume win over North Carolina on a neutral court, the UConn Huskies take the No. 2 spot this week. Although they struggled a bit in the fourth quarter, Paige Bueckers and Sarah Strong showed out with big performances. Head coach Geno Auriemma also tied Tara VanDerveer for the all-time win record in college basketball.
USC only moved down a spot this week because the Huskies moved up. USC had two home wins by big margins and did what they were expected to against CSUN and Santa Clara. It’ll get a heck of a lot harder next week when the Trojans face Notre Dame.
UCLA took down a depleted Arkansas squad at home, but they absolutely dominated in the win. They’re now 4-0 with victories over Louisville, Colgate, Pepperdine and Arkansas – and they aren’t even healthy yet.
The Fighting Irish’s schedule still hasn’t allowed for much oohing and aahing yet, but a road win by nearly 40 points over any opponent is a good sign for Notre Dame. Hannah Hidalgo is now averaging 27.5 points and 5.3 steals.
Texas tested itself a bit traveling to DePaul on Sunday – and the Longhorns won convincingly for their first road victory of the year. They’ve got a fairly challenging remainder of their non-conference slate, so this was a must-win.
I’d still like to see them against better competition (which we will soon), but for now, Iowa State looks like a team that could do some damage come March. Audi Crooks and Addy Brown are both averaging 22-plus points over four games and transfer Sydney Harris has really impressed.
The LSU Tigers surprisingly had a little bit of trouble at home against Murray State this week, but they pulled it together in the fourth quarter and got the 74-60 win. It’s a little challenging to tell what the potential of this team is right now, but besides that game, they’ve dominated lower-level teams as expected.
Maryland is undefeated and still holds a resume win over top-15 Duke. They followed that up with a road win at Syracuse and a blowout home victory over Towson on Sunday afternoon. Brenda Frese has pulled together a slew of newcomers to start the season off strong.
I expected Kansas State to beat Creighton, but I didn’t expect them to dominate like they did. They claimed an 86-68 home win over the Bluejays and had taken down a really talented Belmont team prior to that without Ayoka Lee. Lee is back now and scored 28 points on 72% shooting against Creighton.
Oklahoma dominated Western Carolina at home in their sole game of the week. Raegan Beers has had an unbelievable start to the season, averaging 24.7 points and 12.3 rebounds on 76% shooting from the field.
TCU proved their talent on Sunday afternoon when the Horned Frogs took down previously No. 9 NC State at home. The Horned Frogs had plenty of doubters, but they silenced them with the 76-73 victory – their first resume win of the season.
I give Kara Lawson and Duke props for scheduling as hard as they did for this non-conference slate. The Blue Devils went on the road and managed a 4-point win over South Dakota State, one of the best mid-majors in the country. Jadyn Donovan had an incredible performance with 23 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, four steals, a block and zero turnovers.
NC State is the first two-loss team to make an appearance in the Top 25, but they’ve lost to the No. 1 and No. 12 teams in the country, the latter of which was by a single possession on the road. Freshman Zamareya Jones is someone who I think will be a real difference-maker later in the season and her shots just weren’t falling against TCU.
West Virginia faced its first two high-major opponents in Pittsburgh and Texas A&M this week. WVU won both by at least 20 points and scored 80-plus points in each outing. Auburn transfer Sydney Shaw has stood out to me so far, and although she wasn’t as efficient in the Pittsburgh matchup, she adds a capable 3-point shooter for the Mountaineers.
A win over Belmont on the road is a solid resume booster, but it was a little too close for comfort. Belmont took it to the final seconds, but Ohio State came out with the 67-63 victory. Freshman Jaloni Cambridge, despite being less efficient from the perimeter, finished with 10 points, four rebounds, six assists and two steals. Cotie McMahon led in scoring with 21 points.
Kentucky won its way into the Top 25 this week with an overtime victory over Louisville at home. The Wildcats starters all played nearly the entirety of the game and still came away with the win. Georgia Amoore is still a star and UNC transfer Teonni Key had one of the best performances of her career in Kentucky’s first true test of the year.
The second and final two-loss team to make the cut is Louisville. They fell to No. 4 UCLA in their opener and dropped the rivalry matchup at Kentucky in overtime. This is a young team that struggled at the free-throw line and had some costly turnovers, but there’s a ton of talent on this team. The freshmen will improve with experience.
North Carolina fell 69-58 to UConn, my No. 2 team in the country. It wasn’t a bad loss and they made a big push in the fourth quarter that kept it within reach. This game, their first true test, was against a program that was expected to win, but they fought hard and Indya Nivar was a real bright spot in her season debut.
Ole Miss beat Delaware State on the road by nearly 40 points in their lone game of the week. It’s not enough to push the needle and move them up quite yet, but transfer Starr Jacobs had a standout performance with 18 points, six rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Illinois had just one game this week against Eastern Illinois and it was an 84-37 rout for the Fighting Illini. They’ll stay undefeated with key wins over Florida State and Marquette.
Alabama is a little similar to LSU in that I’m not sure what to make of them yet with their non-conference schedule. They struggled a bit at home against a solid Norfolk State but came out with the win and sit undefeated with a 6-0 record.
Oregon’s win over Baylor earned them a Top 25 spot last week and they followed it up with a 66-35 victory over a formidable North Texas squad. UNC transfer Deja Kelly has still been the focal point of the team, averaging 14.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.5 steals through her first four contests.
Iowa’s win on the road at Drake earned them a slight bump up in the rankings this week. The Hawkeyes are now 4-0 with notable wins over Virginia Tech, Toledo and Drake. Addison O’Grady went off on Sunday and posted a 27-point, 10-rebound double-double at Drake.
Baylor sits at No. 25 after a pair of convincing wins over East Texas A&M and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Bears fell to Oregon on the road in the first week and haven’t faced a sizable opponent since.
