No. 6 Iowa State earns highest AP women's basketball poll ranking in 20 years; South Carolina still No. 1

Iowa State reached its best ranking in 20 years in the Associated Press women's basketball poll, while South Carolina remained the unanimous choice at No. 1.

Iowa State (21-3) moved up three spots to sixth on Monday — its highest mark since the 2001-02 season — and has a huge week ahead with games against No. 14 Texas and No. 15 Oklahoma.

Longtime Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly couldn't remember the last time his team had such an important stretch.

«It's a really big week going to Texas where we haven't played them very well lately and Oklahoma is playing at a very high level,» Fennelly said. «It's one of those weeks you hope to have in February.»

The Gamecocks received all 30 votes from a national media panel after beating Kentucky and Georgia on the road last week. Stanford, Louisville, NC State and Indiana round out the top five.

The Cyclones, who were sixth on Jan. 7, 2002, hold a one-game lead over Oklahoma and Baylor in the Big 12 standings. Iowa State has only won the conference's regular-season crown once, in 2000.

This is only the second time in the program's history that the Cyclones have reached 20 wins in their first 23 games, joining the 200-01 team. Iowa State was missing star Ashley Joens, who averages 19.9 points and 9.3 rebounds, when it lost to Texas because of COVID-19 protocols. She is back now.

«This team is evolving into a really solid team that has done things the right way,» Fennelly said. «We've gotten healthier over time and that has helped us and we've won some close games.»

First-place votes in parentheses.

No. 7 Baylor and No. 8 Arizona follow Iowa State, while Michigan fell from fourth to ninth after losing at Michigan State and Northwestern. UConn dropped two spots to No. 10.

Virginia Tech