We're approaching a new year, but the top 10 teams in the AP Top 25 women's basketball poll remain unchanged for a third consecutive week. This week's most notable mover is Kansas State, as the Wildcats sit right on the top 10's doorstep at No. 11. K-State has only one loss on its resume, to Caitlin Clark and Iowa on Nov. 26, but a couple weeks prior Ayoka Lee and Co. handed the Hawkeyes their only loss of the season.
Dawn Staley's South Carolina Gamecocks remain undefeated after a 92-63 win over Bowling Green, a game in which sophomore Chloe Kitts scored a career-high 21 points. This was Kitts' first time finishing as South Carolina's leading scorer, exemplifying just how impressive South Carolina's depth is.
No. 2 UCLA has another incredibly deep roster, but the Bruins will face one of the toughest tests of the season this coming weekend as they're playing the USC Trojans. Speaking of the Trojans, they kept their No. 6 ranking after beating Long Beach State without starters JuJu Watkins and Rayah Marshall, who were out with undisclosed injuries.
Iowa has had more players step up offensively as the season progresses, but Caitlin Clark keeps dazzling everyone. During her most recent outing against Loyola Chicago, Clark registered her 13th career triple-double with 35 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists. She has now moved into seventh place on the NCAA's all-time scoring list with 3,114 career points.
UConn has not yet entered the top 10, but the Huskies improved two spots to No. 15. They collected dominant wins against Butler and Toronto Metropolitan in the past week, but UConn's strongest resume builders were wins against North Carolina and Louisville earlier this month.
AP Women's Basketball Top 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' women's college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Sunday, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week's ranking:
| Rank | Team | Record | Points | Prev. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Carolina | 11-0 | 900 | 1 |
| 2 | UCLA | 11-0 | 861 | 2 |
| 3 | North Carolina State | 12-0 | 802 | 3 |
| 4 | Iowa | 12-1 | 758 | 4 |
| 5 | Texas | 12-0 | 745 | 5 |
| 6 | USC | 10-0 | 685 | 6 |
| 7 | LSU | 12-1 | 676 | 7 |
| 8 | Colorado | 10-1 | 650 | 8 |
| 9 | Stanford | 10-1 | 614 | 9 |
| 10 | Baylor | 11-0 | 607 | 10 |
| 11 | Kansas State | 12-1 | 500 | 12 |
| 12 | Utah | 10-2 | 497 | 11 |
| 13 | Notre Dame | 9-1 | 473 | 14 |
| 14 | Virginia Tech | 9-2 | 395 | 15 |
| 15 | UConn | 9-3 | 393 | 17 |
| 16 | Indiana | 10-1 | 382 | 16 |
| 17 | Ohio State | 10-1 | 380 | 13 |
| 18 | Marquette | 12-0 | 305 | 18 |
| 19 | Louisville | 11-2 | 241 | 19 |
| 20 | Gonzaga | 13-2 | 215 | 20 |
| 21 | Creighton | 9-2 | 146 | 21 |
| 22 | Florida State | 9-3 | 136 | 21 |
| 23 | TCU | 13-0 | 73 | 25 |
| 24 | North Carolina | 8-4 | 58 | 24 |
| 25 | West Virginia | 11-0 | 49 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Washington, UNLV, Texas A&M, Oregon State, Minnesota, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Penn State, Davidson, Washington State, Green Bay, Ole Miss, Syracuse