Ladies’s school basketball rankings: Duke and TCU rise huge in newest ballot, Notre Dame falls

Essentially the most thrilling week of the non-conference season — and most irritating for locating video games throughout a number of obscure streaming platforms — offered loads of fascinating video games and outcomes through the vacation week.

It included one ACC facet caring for all comers and one other coming off a excessive from week three and falling laborious in week 4. All a part of a shakeup within the rankings after the fourth week of school basketball.

AP high 25 ladies’s school basketball rankings after week 4:

1. UCLA
2. UConn
3. South Carolina
4. Texas
5. LSU
6. USC
7. Maryland
8. Duke
9. TCU
10. Notre Dame
11. Oklahoma
12. Ohio State
13. Kansas State
14. Kentucky
15. West Virginia
16. North Carolina
17. Iowa
18. Ole Miss
19. Alabama
20. Iowa State
21. Illinois
22. Louisville
23. Michigan
24. Michigan State
25. Nebraska

Others receiving votes: NC State 58, Georgia Tech 33, Stanford 28, Tennessee 16, Oregon 15, Florida St. 14, Richmond 13, Mississippi St. 11, Vanderbilt 8, Baylor 6, Utah 5, Harvard 4, South Dakota St. 4, Creighton 3, Minnesota 3.

Duke Blue Devils topple top-10

On November 10, the Duke Blue Devils misplaced an in depth away recreation to the then No. 18 ranked Maryland Terrapins. After upsetting Ohio State within the NCAA match eight months prior, Duke began the season 0-1 towards ranked opponents.

After two weeks of defeating unranked opponents, together with a constant mid-major match staff within the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, the No. 11 Blue Devils had a tough take a look at forward of themselves heading to Nevada for the Ball Dawgs Basic.

Head Coach Kara Lawson’s staff handed, defeating the No. 9 Kansas State Wildcats and No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners.

Towards Kansas State, the Wildcats went out to a 14-4 run however the Blue Devils didn’t keep down for lengthy. Main the comeback was Ashlon Jackson’s profession day, which began with 16 factors within the second quarter. Mix that with Duke permitting solely 4 subject objectives from the Wildcats and the Blue Devils constructed a lead they by no means relinquished.

Jackson went on to attain 30 factors within the 73-62 win, the primary time a Blue Satan hit the 30-point mark since 2019.

Monday was the opening act and Wednesday was the principle occasion, with Reigan Richardson getting into the highlight towards the Sooners.

Much like Monday’s win, the Blue Devils began gradual and mounted an early comeback. Duke maintained a lead for a lot of the sport, and had a 15-point second half lead that Payton Verhulst helped erase on the buzzer. That’s when the guard scored three of her team-leading 29 factors to place the sport into time beyond regulation.

Richardson and Duke responded in an enormous approach, when the Blue Devils’ star scored 10 of her 35 factors within the 109-99 victory. Richardson’s efficiency earned the match MVP trophy in per week that put Duke again within the high 10 for the primary time for the reason that 2022-23 season.

Picture by Ian Maule/Getty Photographs

Life doesn’t get a lot simpler in week 5 once they face the South Carolina Gamecocks on the street for the SEC-ACC Problem. Duke has 4 straight losses to Daybreak Staley’s Gamecocks.

Horned Frogs make historical past

Issues didn’t look good for No. 17 TCU ladies’s basketball within the second half towards No. 3 Notre Dame on Friday. With 13 minutes remaining, the Preventing Irish had a 14-point lead and it regarded like their undefeated begin to the season was prepared so as to add one other quantity to the win column.

The Horned Frogs weren’t phased.

TCU went on an eight-point run and within the fourth quarter outscored Notre Dame 31-12 to drag away for a program record-tying win towards a No. 3 ranked staff, the very best the Huge 12 facet has ever overwhelmed.

Main the cost was switch guard Hailey Van Lith, who had 19 of her 21 factors within the second half, 9 of which coming within the remaining 10 minutes. Included within the stellar scoring efficiency have been seven assists, as Van Lith’s profession season in her remaining 12 months continues.

After taking part in a extra subdued function with the LSU Tigers final season, in Van Lith’s first season with TCU she averages a profession excessive 19.9 factors and seven.1 assists per recreation. A far cry from her earlier excessive of three.6 assists per season with the Tigers.

Fellow switch graduate senior Sedonna Prince additionally grew to become the primary participant in NCAA historical past to have no less than 20 factors, 20 rebounds and eight blocks towards a high 5 staff within the nation.

All of it contributed to a remaining quarter the place the Irish struggled to hit pictures. Notre Dame went 5-of-20 from the ground and missed all three makes an attempt from past the arc within the fourth quarter and the Horned Frogs pulled away with a 76-86 victory.

The win over Notre Dame, and subsequent victory over the USF Bulls on Saturday, transfer the Horned Frogs as much as No. 9 on this week’s rating.

TCU’s rating is the very best in program historical past, eclipsing a No. 13 rating in February of 2004.

Notre Dame stumbles

The Preventing Irish have been driving excessive after their journey to Los Angeles on Nov. 23, defeating the then-No. 3 ranked USC Trojans, however fell laborious in week 4. After the TCU comeback, issues obtained worse.

Notre Dame completed off their time within the Cayman Islands with a loss to the unranked Utah Utes. Regardless of going into halftime up 5 factors, Utah had a 15-0 run that stretched from earlier than to after halftime.

The Utes outscored the Irish 46-30 within the second half to cruise to a 78-67 win.

Within the defeat, the star backcourt duo of Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles struggled to hit their stride offensively. The 2 mixed to go 8-of-24 from the sector, with Miles scoring a season low eight factors. Hidalgo had solely the second recreation of her profession with out an help, and the primary this season.

Head coach Niele Ivey’s staff had not misplaced two video games in a row since February of 2021 when the Irish misplaced convention video games towards Louisville and Clemson to finish the 20-21 season.

From right here the street doesn’t get a lot simpler for the Notre Dame. There aren’t any non-conference video games towards a mid-major to try to shake off the rust of two draining defeats. Thursday, the Irish welcome the Texas Longhorns to South Bend for the SEC-ACC Problem. One week later, they welcome the UConn Huskies to finish a brutal stretch of video games the place 4 of six opponents are ranked within the top-25.

Different Tales of the Week

• After shedding to the No. 1 UCLA Bruins, No. 3 South Carolina got here again in an enormous approach in week 4, beating No. 15 Iowa State and Huge Ten facet Purdue by 40 and 48 factors, respectively.
• No. 5 Texas met No. 12 West Virginia in Florida on the Gulf Coast Basic and ahead Madison Booker scoring the ultimate 4 factors to sealed an in depth 78-73 win for the Longhorns.
• No. 20 NC State continued struggling towards ranked sides, shedding to No. 7 LSU on Wednesday, bringing the Wolfpack’s document towards ranked groups this season to 0-3.
• No. 14 Kentucky beat the No. 19 Illinois Preventing Illini Wednesday in Nashville on the Music Metropolis Basic 76-53, holding the Huge Ten facet to 26.7 p.c capturing from the ground.