South Carolina remains on top of AP Top 25 following first loss of 2021-22 season

South Carolina women’s basketball is still on top.

After counting their first loss of the 2021-22 season at Missouri in the SEC opener, the Gamecocks remained No. 1 in this week’s Associated Press top 25 poll released Monday afternoon.

Though South Carolina remained the top-ranked team, it snapped a six-week streak of earning every No. 1 vote from all 30 media members across the country this week. The Gamecocks received 22 first-place votes, while No. 3 Louisville received five and No. 4 Arizona received three.

South Carolina has been in the top position of this year’s AP poll since the preseason and was a unanimous No. 1 selection from Week 3-Week 8.

USC (13-1, 1-1 SEC) began the year with a 12-0 start to non-conference play. The Gamecocks’ early streak included five wins over members of the AP top 10, including two victories over No. 2 teams, UConn and Stanford.

The Gamecocks started conference play Thursday with a 70-69 loss at Mizzou in overtime. The Tigers were down five players due to health and safety protocols, including leading scorer Aijha Blackwell, but capitalized on a poor shooting night for USC to beat the No. 1 team for the first time in program history.

The Mizzou loss was South Carolina’s first time falling to an unranked team in 46 games, snapping the longest active streak in women’s college basketball.

South Carolina bounced back in Sunday’s win over Mississippi State, defeating the Bulldogs 80-68 in Colonial Life Arena. The Gamecocks moved Mississippi State up in their schedule late, after the originally scheduled matchup between USC and Ole Miss had to be postponed due to COVID-19 issues in the Rebels’ program.

Thursday, the Gamecocks travel to face Kim Mulkey and No. 13 LSU, which jumped six spots in this week’s AP poll following wins over ranked SEC opponents Georgia and Texas A&M. USC will then host No. 21 Kentucky on Sunday in Columbia.

Next USC women’s basketball game

Who: No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks (13-1, 1-1 SEC) vs. No. 13 LSU Tigers (14-1, 2-0 SEC)

Where: Maravich Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

When: 8 p.m. Thursday

Watch: SEC Network Plus

AP women’s basketball Top 25

First place votes in parenthesis

Others receiving votes: Missouri 53, Colorado 53, Florida Gulf Coast 46, Kansas State 27, Ohio State 24, DePaul 19, Missouri State 10, Mississippi 7, Virginia Tech 6, Nebraska 5.