| | By keeping its cool in a heated game against Tennessee,
Connecticut became a unanimous choice for No. 1 Monday in The
Associated Press women's basketball poll.
Though Connecticut has led the poll all season, this was the
first time it received all 45 first-place votes from the national
media panel. The Huskies' 1,125 points were 68 more than Tennessee,
which held on at No. 2, just ahead of North Carolina State.
The last unanimous No. 1 was Tennessee in the 1998-99 preseason
poll.
Connecticut (12-0), one of three unbeaten teams remaining in
Division I, defeated Tennessee 74-67 at Knoxville Saturday in the
29th matchup between the two highest ranked teams in the AP poll.
It was the 16th time the No. 1 team has won.
UConn now has defeated six ranked teams, including three of the
top five -- Tennessee, Louisiana Tech and Penn State.
Tennessee (11-2) beat two Top 25 teams, Old Dominion and LSU, by
wide margins before losing to Connecticut. The Lady Vols finished
12 points ahead of North Carolina State (14-0) in the voting.
Louisiana Tech (10-2) stayed at No. 4.
Penn State (12-2), which has won eight straight since a Dec. 5
loss to Connecticut, climbed one spot to fifth, and Notre Dame
jumped two places to sixth. Georgia remained seventh and was
followed by Iowa State, Rutgers and Auburn.
Auburn dropped five places after a 71-69 loss to Kentucky.
Duke, which has a 13-game winning streak, went from 14th to
11th. Then it was Illinois, Tulane and UCLA, followed by North
Carolina, Texas Tech, LSU, Purdue, UC Santa Barbara and Arizona.
Kansas, Old Dominion, Oregon, Mississippi State and Boston
College held the final five places.
There were no newcomers. Arkansas State, which had been tied
with Boston College for 25th, fell out of the poll despite winning
both its games during the past week, against Western Kentucky and
Arkansas-Little Rock.
The ranking last week was the first in school history for
Arkansas State.
Tulane (14-0), the third team still unbeaten, climbed from 19th
to 13th for the biggest jump in the poll. The Green Wave had a
close call with Alabama-Birmingham last week, 74-73, but handily
defeated Southern Mississippi and Memphis.
Purdue's fall from 12th to 18th was the biggest drop. The
Boilermakers, the defending national champions, lost to Penn State
and Michigan.
Texas Tech has fallen 10 places in the past two weeks. The Lady
Raiders went from sixth to 13th a week ago after losing to Iowa
State, then dropped two more places Monday following an 82-76 loss
to Oklahoma.
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