Women’s college basketball rankings: Gonzaga rises to No. 16 in AP Top 25 poll (1/16/23)

Brynna Maxwell scored 20 points to lead the Zags past Portland on Thursday

It may have taken ten consecutive wins, but the Gonzaga women’s basketball team finally received a significant boost in the Associated Press Top 25 poll released Monday.

The Zags (17-2, 7-0 WCC) moved up four spots to No. 16 in the national rankings after spending the last seven weeks between No. 19 and No. 23.

In Gonzaga’s only game last week, it defeated Portland 73-66 on the road Thursday.

Graduate student guard Brynna Maxwell led the Zags with 20 points and made a career-high six 3-pointers on seven attempts. She also added four rebounds and two steals in 34 minutes.

Maxwell’s play earned her WCC Player of the Week honors for the second time this season.

The Zags’ win gave them sole possession of first place in the conference, as Portland was the only other undefeated team in the league heading into Thursday’s game.

Gonzaga received 52 more points than last week’s AP poll, positioning them behind Oklahoma and ahead of North Carolina.

For the first time since week five, there was movement among the top three, with Stanford dropping from No. 2 to No. 4 after a loss to unranked USC. Ohio State moved up a spot to replace Stanford, while LSU jumped from fifth to third in the rankings.

Defending champion South Carolina was first in the poll with 28 first-place votes, remaining the top-ranked team for the 30th straight week.

The Zags will head down to California to play Pacific on Thursday and Saint Mary’s on Saturday. Gonzaga’s next home matchup is against LMU on Jan. 26.

Here’s the full AP Top 25 poll for Week 11 of the 2022-23 season:

AP TOP 25 POLL

1. South Carolina (28) 700
2. Ohio State 670
3. LSU 604
4. Stanford 601
5. UConn 600
6. Indiana 586
7. Notre Dame 546
8. Utah 477
9. UCLA 428
10. Iowa 414
11. Maryland 413
12. Virginia Tech 391
13. Duke 361
14. Michigan 341
15. Oklahoma 304
16. Gonzaga 249
17. North Carolina 237
18. Iowa State 205
19. Arizona 185
20. NC State 139
21. Illinois 120
22. Villanova 94
23. Oregon 75
24. Colorado 65
25. Texas 62

Others receiving votes: Baylor 51, Middle Tennessee 39, Arkansas 34, South Florida 24, Miami (FL) 23, Florida State 23, Tennessee 19, USC 7, Louisville 4, Creighton 4, Kansas 3, West Virginia 2