South Carolina women’s basketball bounced back strong after its heartbreaking buzzer-beater loss to Texas in Las Vegas, responding with a perfect 2-0 week. The Gamecocks first survived a tight battle on the road, edging ranked Louisville 79-77, before returning to Columbia and dismantling NC Central in a dominant 106-42 performance. With the team now sitting at 9-1 overall, USC heads into final-exam week before taking on another Power Five opponent this coming Sunday.
As exam week begins, the Associated Press released its Week 6 Top 25 rankings — and the Gamecocks held firm. After taking care of business last week, South Carolina remains No. 3 in the nation. Just like the previous poll, Dawn Staley’s squad trails the No. 1 UConn Huskies and the No. 2 Texas Longhorns.
For the second straight week, South Carolina did not receive a single first-place vote after dropping from its former ranking. UConn keeps its hold on the top spot with 23 first-place votes, while Texas stays at No. 2 and collected nine first-place votes of its own.
AP Top 25 — Week Six
(First-place votes in parentheses)
- UConn Huskies (23)
- Texas Longhorns (9)
- South Carolina Gamecocks
- UCLA Bruins
- LSU Tigers
- Michigan Wolverines
- Maryland Terrapins
- TCU Horned Frogs
- Oklahoma Sooners
- Iowa State Cyclones
- Iowa Hawkeyes
- North Carolina Tar Heels
- Baylor Bears
- Vanderbilt Commodores
- Kentucky Wildcats
- Southern Cal Trojans
- Ole Miss Rebels
- Tennessee Lady Volunteers
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- Washington Huskies
- Ohio State Buckeyes
- Louisville Cardinals
- Oklahoma State Cowboys
- Nebraska Cornhuskers
- Michigan State Spartans
Also receiving votes: Princeton, Texas Tech, Georgia, Alabama, NC State, Oregon, Stanford, Illinois, West Virginia
South Carolina’s consistency remains remarkable. The Gamecocks have not fallen below No. 7 in the AP Poll at any point since the preseason ranking ahead of the 2019–2020 season — a year they finished ranked No. 1 before COVID-19 canceled March Madness.
The team’s current No. 3 ranking also places them second among SEC schools, trailing only Texas. In total, eight SEC programs appear in this week’s Top 25.
Looking at the season as a whole, South Carolina’s schedule is stacked. The 2025–26 slate includes matchups with ten teams currently in the Top 25. So far, the Gamecocks have defeated No. 16 Southern Cal, fallen to No. 2 Texas, and beaten No. 22 Louisville. Up ahead, they will play Texas again, along with ranked matchups against Oklahoma (No. 9), Vanderbilt (No. 14), Tennessee (No. 18), LSU (No. 5), Ole Miss (No. 17), and Kentucky (No. 15). Alabama, which is receiving votes, also awaits in conference play.
This week will be a quiet one on the court due to exams, but USC returns to action on Sunday inside Colonial Life Arena. The Gamecocks host Penn State at 3:30 p.m. in a non-conference showdown airing on ESPN and streaming through the ESPN app.
Although Penn State leads the all-time series 6-4, the two programs haven’t met since 2011 — a 55-50 Nittany Lions victory in Columbia when PSU was ranked No. 11. This time, the roles are reversed: South Carolina enters as the nation’s No. 3 team, while Penn State comes in unranked.
