Where AP voters ranked South Carolina women's basketball this week

On Monday, the AP top 25 dropped. South Carolina women’s basketball again sat in the No. 3 spot in the rankings. The Gamecocks had been No. 2 since the preseason, but a loss to Texas the previous week in the Players Era Championship caused the two teams to swap spots in the poll. Then, this week, those positions held.

South Carolina, again, did not earn a first-place vote.

All 32 AP voters included Dawn Staley’s team in their top five. 31 of them listed Carolina among the top four overall teams. None of them included USC in the top two. Every voter had both UConn and Texas ahead of South Carolina. Just one voter put LSU ahead of South Carolina, indicating that the Gamecocks are the No. 2 team in the SEC this week on 31 of 32 overall ballots. Nine voters put UCLA ahead of the Gamecocks.

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

23 voters listed South Carolina at No. 3, and all of them kept the Gamecocks behind UConn and Texas.

Eight voters listed the Gamecocks at No. 4. With Texas and UConn occupying the top two spots, all of the third-place votes ahead of South Carolina went to UCLA. Another voter slotted USC at No. 5, and on that ballot, UCLA again went to No. 3, and LSU slotted in at No. 4.

The one voter who put the Gamecocks back at No. 5 had them at No. 1 two weeks ago.

Below are the South Carolina votes from the nine total voters who put the Gamecocks somewhere other than No. 3.

No. 4: Caroline Makauskas (Lexington Herald-Leader; Lexington, Kentucky)
No. 4: Emily Adams (Hartford Courant; Hartford, Connecticut)
No. 4: Jeff Linder (Cedar Rapids-Gazette; Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
No. 4: Kelly Gramlich (ACC Network; Charlotte, North Carolina)
No. 4: Percy Allen (Seattle Times; Seattle, Washington)
No. 4: Robert Cessna (Bryan-College Station Eagle; College Station, Texas)
No. 4: Sam McKewon (Omaha World-Herald; Omaha, Nebraska)
No. 4: Terrika Foster-Brasby (CBS Sports; New York, New York)

No. 5: Joe Vozzelli (News-Gazette; Champagne, Illinois)

On3 APP! Get GamecockCentral notifications

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, the Gamecocks will play just once, a home contest at Colonial Life Arena following the completion of South Carolina’s exam week.

On Sunday, the Penn State Nittany Lions will be in Columbia for a 3:30 p.m. contest. ESPN will broadcast the non-conference showdown, while the ESPN app makes it available via streaming.

Penn State leads the all-time series, 4-6; however, the Nittany Lions and Gamecocks haven’t played since 2011. That year, PSU won, 55-50 in Columbia, with the visiting team ranked 11th nationally. The roles are reversed this time around, as South Carolina is No. 3, and Penn State is unranked.

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