BREAKING: Gamecock WBB Ranked No. 1 In New AP Poll

South Carolina's women's basketball team began the season at No. 6, but that didn't last long with two dominant showings against Top 15 teams.

After losing their entire starting lineup from a Final Four squad this past offseason, it was understandable that Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks' women's basketball team didn't start out the 2023-24 season as the No. 1 team in the country. There were many Gamecock fans, however, who were a bit taken aback when Carolina was slotted at No. 6 in the Associated Press' Preseason Top 25 Poll, considering the level of talent that was still on the roster.

Raven Johnson celebrating a three-point make vs. No. 14 Maryland with A'ja Wilson hyping her up (12th Nov., 2023) / Jeff Blake | USA Today Network

Serving as likely motivation, South Carolina went out and dismantled two Top 15 teams in No. 10 Notre Dame and No. 14 Maryland in just the first six days of the new season, winning each game by 29 or more points through great team basketball on the offensive end. Combine that with some inexplicable losses from some teams ranked ahead of them, and it wasn't surprising that on Monday afternoon, the AP Top 25 poll had the Gamecocks listed as the No. 1 team in the country, with the team garnering 23 of the 36 first-place votes.

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