Women’s college basketball rankings: Gonzaga falls to No. 17 in AP Top 25 poll (1/23/23)

The Zags won two road games last week, but dropped one spot in Monday's poll

Back-to-back wins on the road weren’t enough to keep the Gonzaga women’s basketball team from falling in Monday’s Associated Press Top 25 poll.

The Zags (19-2, 9-0 WCC) fell one spot to No. 17 after defeating Pacific on Thursday and Saint Mary’s on Saturday.

Gonzaga narrowly avoided a major upset to Pacific, as head coach Lisa Fortier’s squad almost squandered a 14-point halftime lead but hung on to win 81-78.

“Pacific played well and hard,” Fortier said to The Spokesman-Review. “Not all of them are smooth and easy. I’m just happy that we won.”

Gonzaga had four players in double figures, including Yvonne Ejim, who had 22 points to go along with 12 rebounds. McKayla Williams finished with 19 points, while also collecting seven rebounds and two steals.

The Zags notched a much more convincing 82-57 victory against Saint Mary’s, with Ejim leading the way with 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field.

Although Gonzaga fell a spot in the national rankings, it gained 10 points from last week.

Defending champion South Carolina was first in the poll with 28 first-place votes, remaining the top-ranked team for 31 straight weeks. The Gamecocks were followed by Ohio State, Stanford, LSU and UConn.

Gonzaga returns home to host LMU on Thursday and Pepperdine on Saturday.

Here’s the full AP Top 25 poll for Week 12 of the 2022-23 season:

1. South Carolina (28)

2. Ohio State 669

3. Stanford 615

4. LSU 603

5. UConn 596

6. Indiana 584

7. Notre Dame 541

8. UCLA 448

9. Utah 430

10. Iowa 425

10. Maryland 425

12. Virginia Tech 403

13. Michigan 352

14. Oklahoma 304

15. North Carolina 298

16. Duke 281

17. Gonzaga 259

18. Iowa State 221

19. Arizona 201

20. NC State 171

21. Villanova 145

22. Illinois 103

23. Middle Tennessee 64

24. Florida State 57

25. Colorado 56

Others receiving votes: Tennessee 47, Texas 35, South Florida 31, USC 22, Oregon 10, Arkansas 2, UNLV 1, Alabama 1