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College basketball rankings: Gonzaga women burst into top 25

A win against a top 10 team will do that.

NCAA Womens Basketball: West Coast Conference Tournament-Gonzaga vs San Francisco Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The Gonzaga Bulldogs women’s basketball team is the newly minted No. 24 team in the nation in the latest AP poll.

Women’s AP Poll - Week 5

rank team points previous
rank team points previous
1 Connecticut (31) 775 2
2 Notre Dame 719 1
3 Oregon 707 3
4 Baylor 689 4
5 Louisville 661 5
6 Mississippi State 622 6
7 Maryland 587 7
8 Oregon State 549 9
9 Tennessee 524 11
10 North Carolina State 473 13
11 Stanford 446 8
12 Texas 438 10
13 California 362 15
14 Minnesota 357 20
15 Syracuse 330 12
16 Iowa 303 14
17 Arizona State 222 19
18 Marquette 195 22
19 Kentucky 194 25
20 DePaul 177 16
21 Drake 157 21
22 South Carolina 113 18
23 Missouri 95 NR
24 Gonzaga 93 NR
25 Miami (FL) 68 21
Others receiving votes: Texas A&M 57, Iowa St. 37, South Florida 24, Florida St. 20, Virginia Tech 20, West Virginia 16, Georgia 14, South Dakota 7, Indiana 5, Southern Cal 5, Michigan St. 3, Cent Michigan 3, Northwestern 2, Purdue 2, Utah 2, Kansas 1, North Carolina 1.

The women, who have been grinding out stellar defensive victories all year, picked up a marquee win on Sunday afternoon, defeating the then No. 8 Stanford Cardinal, 79-73. The win was enough to launch the women into the top 25 poll, where they should remain for much of the season as the favorite in the West Coast Conference.

The win over Stanford was the women’s first over a ranked opponent since 2016, and their fifth-win over a top 10 program.

Alongside the news, Chandler Smith was named the WCC women’s basketball Player of the Week, thanks to her game-high 20 points against Stanford, the final four points coming to absolutely seal the deal in the exciting contest. Smith is the first Gonzaga player to win the PotW award for Gonzaga this season.