Where AP voters ranked South Carolina women's basketball following third week of 2025-2026 season

On Monday, the AP top 25 dropped. South Carolina women’s basketball sat in the No. 2 spot in the rankings once again. Just as they were in the preseason poll and the updated polls since, the Gamecocks were behind only the UConn Huskies, the team that also knocked them off in the title game this spring. However, USC’s first-place votes have fluctuated; they now have one to their credit.

All 31 AP voters included Dawn Staley’s team in their top four. 30 of them listed Carolina among the top three overall teams. All but 10 put USC in the top two. One voter placed the Gamecocks below the Texas Longhorns, indicating a lower spot for South Carolina in the SEC hierarchy.

Join GamecockCentral now for $1 your first week and enjoy a complimentary year of The Athletic – included with your membership.

20 voters listed South Carolina at No. 2, and all but one of them voted USC behind UConn.

The one voter who slotted UCLA at No. 1 also put South Carolina at No. 2, ahead of UConn.

Just one AP voter ranked the Gamecocks at the top of the ballot. UConn was No. 2 in that particular top 25.

Nine voters slotted USC at No. 3 (UConn was No. 1 on all of those lists). One voter picked USC as the No. 4 overall team in the country, putting UConn at No. 1, Texas at No. 2, and UCLA at No. 3.

Below are the South Carolina votes from the 11 total voters who put the Gamecocks somewhere other than No. 2.

No. 1: Joe Vozzelli (News-Gazette; Champagne, Illinois)

No. 3: Alexa Philippou (ESPN; Bristol, Connecticut)
No. 3: Ben Pickman (The Athletic; New York City, New York)
No. 3: Carl Adamec (The Journal Inquirer; Manchester, Connecticut)
No. 3: Caroline Makauskas (Lexington Herald-Leader; Lexington, Kentucky)
No. 3: Eden Laase (HoopsHQ; Los Angeles, California)
No. 3: Jeff Linder (Cedar Rapids-Gazette; Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
No. 3: Percy Allen (Seattle Times; Seattle, Washington)
No. 3: Sabreena Merchant (The Athletic; New York City, New York)
No. 3: Sam McKewon (Omaha World-Herald; Omaha, Nebraska)

No. 4: Robert Cessna (Bryan-College Station Eagle; College Station, Texas)

Get USC Gamecocks app notifications

South Carolina did not move up or down in the AP hierarchy this week. However, the Gamecocks dropped a pair of first-place votes from last week.

In an incredible statistical and voting oddity, 2025-2026 has been the first season since 2018-2019 that South Carolina has not yet made it to No. 1.

Before next week’s poll comes out, Dawn Staley’s team will hit the court twice in Las Vegas at the Players Era Championship.

First, on Wednesday, the Gamecocks will match up with the Duke Blue Devils. Tip-off is set for around 4:30 p.m. (Eastern), following the conclusion of UCLA-Texas beforehand. The game will air on TruTV and stream on HBO Max.

Then, on Thursday, South Carolina will play again on Thanksgiving night. The winner of USC-Duke will face off with the winner of UCLA-Texas. The losers of the two contests will also play. The Players Era Championship Game will begin at 8:00 p.m. (Eastern), while the third-place showdown will begin around 10:30 p.m. (Eastern) after the finish of the title game. Those games will be available on TruTV and HBO Max, as well.

NEW! Message board for South Carolina Women’s Basketball!