Florida enters AP women's hoops poll; South Carolina No. 1

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Florida coach Kelly Rae Finley has the Gators playing their best basketball in years, with wins over four ranked teams in their past five games.

Buoyed by that success, the Gators jumped into The Associated Press women's basketball poll at No. 19 on Monday, the team's first ranking since 2016.

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"Proud of our girls' effort and buy-in," Finley said. "They are an extremely fun team to coach. I am very blessed as a coach to have a group of young women who want to learn."

Florida knocked off then-No. 7 Tennessee and 14th-ranked Georgia last week. Those wins closed out a stretch of five straight games against ranked Southeastern Conference foes. The Gators' only loss in that span was to No. 1 South Carolina on Jan. 30.

The Gamecocks remained the top team in the poll this week and were a unanimous choice from the 30-member national media panel. South Carolina was followed by Stanford, Louisville, Michigan and North Carolina State.

Florida (17-6) has beaten five ranked opponents for the first time since the 2005-06 season. The Gators beat Kentucky and LSU to begin their tough five-game stretch and topped then-No. 25 Texas A&M earlier this season.

"It's crazy cool," Finley said. "We have six games left together in the regular season and we hope to play in the postseason. You can't get there if you don't reflect and connect the dots every day."

The Gators were ranked for the first five weeks of the 2016-17 season before falling out on Dec. 12.

Florida head coach Kelly Rae Finley smiles before an NCAA college basketball game against South Carolina, Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022, in Gainesville, Fla. (AP