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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll for the first time since 2019. They replaced UCLA after the Bruins suffered their first loss of the season against USC.

Texas was another candidate to move to the top spot after overcoming a slow start and knocking off LSU on Sunday. That was the Longhorns' third consecutive win over a top-10 opponent. They moved up to No. 2 while receiving eight first-place votes. UCLA still received six first-place votes this week but dropped to No. 3. 

The Bruins almost suffered a second loss when facing Michigan State on Sunday while leading scorer Lauren Betts sat out with a foot injury. However, a 3-pointer by Timea Gardiner with 44 seconds remaining gave the Bruins the lead and a narrow 75-69 win. 

USC improved to No. 4 after taking down UCLA thanks to a historically dominant two-way performance from JuJu Watkins. The Trojans were less assertive against Washington on Sunday, but still managed to get a 69-64 win.

USC shocks top-ranked UCLA: JuJu Watkins delivers signature performance as Trojans rise to first in Big Ten
Isabel Gonzalez
USC shocks top-ranked UCLA: JuJu Watkins delivers signature performance as Trojans rise to first in Big Ten

UConn also had an exciting week with a dominant win against South Carolina. The Huskies' 87-58 victory snapped the Gamecocks' 71-game home winning streak, while proving Geno Auriemma's team is a dangerous one when locked in.

UConn is No. 5 this week while South Carolina dropped to No. 6. LSU, Ohio State, North Carolina and TCU round out the top 10.

Women's college basketball AP Top 25 poll

RankTeamRecordPointsPrev.
1Notre Dame22-2733 (16)2
2Texas26-2718 (8)3
3UCLA24-1694 (6)1
4USC23-26686
5UConn24-36327
6South Carolina23-35994
7LSU25-25695
8Ohio State21-34999
9North Carolina23-447512
10TCU24-347211
11Duke20-544413
12Kansas State24-342014
13NC State2-541110
14Kentucky20-43788
15Tennessee19-635415
16Oklahoma19-632716
17West Virginia20-519018
18Alabama20-518721
19Baylor22-515425
20Georgia Tech21-513619
21Maryland19-613317
22Michigan State19-613122
23Creighton 21-49624
24Oklahoma State20-59020
25Illinois21-553NR

Others receiving votes: California 48, Utah 43, Louisville 28, South Dakota State 17, Florida State 16, Richmond 10, Michigan 10, Mississippi 10, James Madison 2, Vanderbilt 2, Harvard 1