Illinois women end 23-year AP Top 25 drought, LSU on rise

Off to one of the best starts in school history, Illinoiscracked The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll for thefirst time in 23 years on Monday.

The Illini (14-3) are ranked No. 24 in their first Top 25appearance since Nov. 27, 2000. It’s been a remarkable turnaroundunder first-year coach Shauna Green. The team was 7-20 last seasonand just 1-13 in the Big Ten. Illinois hasn’t had a winning seasonsince 2012-13.

“It means a lot. I understand how far we’ve come in a reallyshort time,” said Green, who came to Illinois after a successfulrun coaching at Dayton. “Most of the kids weren’t alive the lasttime we were ranked. I was a sophomore in college.”

South Carolina remained the No. 1 team, garnering all 28 votesfrom a national media panel. The Gamecocks have been No. 1 for 29consecutive weeks. They were followed in the poll by Stanford andOhio State, which rallied to beat Illinois on Sunday.

UConn moved up one spot to fourth. The Huskies had their gameagainst DePaul on Sunday postponed when they had only sixscholarship players available because of injuries.

LSU moved up two spots to fifth. It’s the first time the Tigershave been that high since Dec. 14, 2009, when they were also fifth.LSU (16-0) is off to the best start in school history, besting themark held by the 2002-03 team that won its first 15 games.

South Carolina, Ohio State and LSU are the only remainingunbeaten teams in the country. The Gamecocks and Tigers meet onFeb. 12 in South Carolina.

Indiana, Notre Dame, UCLA, Maryland and Utah rounded out the top10. The Utes lost their first game of the season, falling atColorado last Friday.

The Illini, who haven’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2003,ended a 14-game losing streak last week to Northwestern. That gaveIllinois 14 wins in its first 16 games, which was the best startever for the school. Its losses have come to Indiana, Ohio Stateand Delaware.

“If you would have told me in the summer we’d be up 17 at OhioState and have a chance to win I’d tell you were crazy,” Greensaid. “Perspective changes really quickly. (Getting ranked) issomething we got to be happy about, Be proud of it, It has tomotivate us even more.”

Villanova also re-entered the poll this week coming in at No.25. The Wildcats had a five-week run in the poll earlier thisseason.

St. John’s and Creighton fell out of the poll.

RISING BEARS

Baylor moved to 3-0 in the Big 12 after knocking off then-No. 17Oklahoma and No. 21 Kansas last week. Caitlin Bickle was a bigreason why, posting double-doubles in both games. The Bears movedup five spots to No. 18 in the poll this week.