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No. 2 UCLA ends UConn run as unanimous No. 1 in women’s AP Top 25, Texas moves up to No. 3

No. 2 UCLA picked up first-place votes from top-ranked UConn in The Associated Press women’s basketball Top 25 on Monday and Texas jumped South Carolina to move up to No. 3 after winning their head-to-head showdown in the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game.

The Bruins picked up three first-place votes after their 51-point win over then-No. 9 Iowa in the Big Ten title game Sunday. UConn had been a unanimous No. 1 from the national media panel for the past eight weeks. The undefeated Huskies received the other 28 first-place votes.

UConn and UCLA are expected to be the top two teams when the women’s NCAA Tournament bracket is revealed Sunday night. While the Bruins are done until then, the Huskies faced Villanova for the Big East tournament title Monday night.

LSU moved up to No. 5, swapping spots with Vanderbilt. Despite its loss to UCLA, Iowa moved up to seventh. Duke jumped five places to eighth after winning the Atlantic Coast Conference championship, beating then-No. 12 Louisville in overtime.

Michigan was ninth and Oklahoma 10th.

In and out

Buoyed by reaching the ACC Tournament semifinals, Notre Dame re-entered the Top 25, coming in at No. 22. Notre Dame replaced Fairfield, which had entered the poll last week and advanced to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship game Monday.

Conference supremacy

The SEC has the most teams in the Top 25 with eight. The Big Ten is next with seven. The Big 12 and ACC each have four. The Ivy League and Big East each have one.

Games of the week

Besides UConn, Princeton is the only other Top 25 team playing this week. The Tigers will face Brown in the Ivy League Tournament semifinals on Friday night. If they win, they will play either Harvard or Columbia on Saturday. The Lions handed the Tigers two of their three losses this season.

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Hawkeyes are set to play Vanderbilt in a November women’s basketball game in Sioux City, Iowa

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Vanderbilt and Iowa, both ranked in the top 10 late last season, will meet in a women's basketball game early next season in northwest Iowa, the schools announced Tuesday. The neutral-site game is set for Nov. 15 at the Tyson Events Center, which is 290 miles from Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. Vanderbilt is 4-0 all-time against the Hawkeyes. This will be the teams' first meeting since 1997. The Commodores are expected to return national scoring leader Mikayla Blakes. She averaged 27 points per game and was Southeastern Conference player of the year. Vanderbilt was ranked as high as No. 5 and finished No. 10 with a 29-5 record after reaching the NCAA Sweet 16.
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