South Carolina hands Vanderbilt only loss in college basketball; ranking unaffected

UConn remains the only undefeated team in NCAA Division I women’s basketball.

Sunday night brought huge news in the NCAA women’s basketball world: only one program remains undefeated.  

UConn and Vanderbilt were in an unscripted competition to be the final undefeated team in Division I, but higher ranked South Carolina took it upon themselves to soundly beat Vanderbilt 103-74.

It was a much needed ranked win for the Gamecocks after they suffered from back-to-back losses. 

The Commodores loss hasn't affected their rank, but the timing of the win gave them a desperately needed confidence boost at this point in the season.  

The top nine teams in NCAA Net Rankings have stayed consistent from the previous rankings, but Iowa has made news jumping from No. 13 to No. 10 following two huge ranked wins over Maryland and Michigan St. 

The Hawkeyes are tied for the top team in the BIG10, in competition with the UCLA Bruins, as both teams are undefeated in conference play so far.

Iowa also defeated Ohio St. last Sunday, who was one of the underdog teams to watch last week, increasing their likelihood for a top seed in the tournament. 

Jan Jensen, legendary Iowa coach Lisa Bluder’s successor, is looking to make a splash in the tournament, and improve their recruiting strength for next season.

The team is led by star senior forward Hannah Stuelke, who is averaging over 14-points per game for the Hawkeyes, and is consistently earning weekly BIG10 honors. 

Here is the current ranking, according to NCAA.com. 

25. NC State, (14-6)

24. Oregon, (15-7)

23. West Virginia, (17-5)

22. Southern California, (11-9)

21. Nebraska, (15-5)

20. North Carolina, (17-5)

19. Ohio St., (18-3)

18. Ole Miss, (17-4)

17. Tennessee, (14-3)

16. Duke, (14-6)

15. Maryland, (17-4)

14. Kentucky, (17-5)

13. Minnesota, (14-6)

12. Oklahoma, (16-4) 

11. TCU, (19-2)

10. Iowa, (18-2)

9. Michigan St., (18-2)

8. Louisville, (19-3)

7. Vanderbilt, (20-1)

6. Michigan, (17-3)

5. LSU, (19-2)

4. South Carolina, (20-2)

3. Texas, (19-2)

2. UCLA, (19-1)

1. UConn, (21-0)

Thank you for reading Female Athlete News. Clara Romae Slowinski is a student-intern at Penn State.