South Carolina retained its spot atop the AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll Monday, receiving all 36 first-place votes.

It’s the seventh consecutive week that the Gamecocks have held the top spot.

The top 10 remained unchanged due to a light schedule ahead of the holidays. Ohio State, who lost to UCLA by six points, dropped four spots to No. 17. West Virginia, meanwhile, entered the top 25 for the first time since 2021. The Big 12 Conference now has five teams in the poll.

The Big 12, Pac 12 and SEC are the only conferences to have every school still have a winning record.

Conference play will begin starting this week. UCLA will play USC, Colorado will face Utah and Baylor will play Texas on Saturday. Then on Sunday, No. 18 Marquette will play No. 15 UConn.

The poll was released on Christmas for the seventh time, with the last Christmas poll coming in 2017. Other years were 1979, 1983, 1995, 2000 and 2006.

Utah may have lost to top-ranked South Carolina on Sunday, but Utes star Alissa Pili showcased why she could be a first-round pick in the 2024 WNBA draft.

Pili had a career game in Utah’s 78-69 loss to South Carolina, which was nearly a stunning upset from the Utes. She helped the team overcome an early 11-point deficit with a career-high 37 points, but while the Utes pulled within two points of the lead, the Gamecocks held on to remain undefeated.

On top of her 37 points, Pili went 15-of-23 from the field, with a team-high three 3-pointers. She also added three steals, two rebounds, one assist and one block.

“If I’m a WNBA GM, there’s no doubt in my mind that kid can play in the WNBA,” Utah associate head coach Gavin Petersen said. “She’s a winner, she’s an assassin in between the lines and she’s a great teammate.”

In the second period, Pili had 14 consecutive points for Utah before foul trouble put her on the bench. She finished the first half with 21 points.

“I’d much rather get the win and have Pili score 37 on us, then her score 37 with the win,” Dawn Staley told the Associated Press. “Now, that’s a little bit hard to swallow. But, utmost respect for Pili. I mean, Utah, I hope we don’t see them in the tournament and whoever does get to see them, good luck to you.”

If you ask Pili, her performance came down to sticking with what works.

“I just went out there and did my thing,” Pili said. “Let the game come to me. It’s better when I don’t think about it, because it just comes to me.”

No. 1 South Carolina eked out a 65-58 win over No. 24 North Carolina on Thursday, but freshman phenom MiLaysia Fulwiley played just three minutes.

It was an uncharacteristic game from Fulwiley, who had been playing significant minutes and hadn’t scored less than 10 points in her first five games. She entered Thursday’s contest as the Gamecocks’ second-leading scorer but rode the bench after the first quarter.

South Carolina trailed 19-10 after the first quarter. For head coach Dawn Staley, the decision to bench Fulwiley came because she wanted to go with the hotter defensive player.

“From a defensive standpoint, she lost her man a few times and gave up a couple of 3s,” Staley said.

Fulwiley entered the night averaging 15.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 23.5 minutes per game. She also has been sound defensively, with 10 steals and 7 blocks on the year.

But there’s still room for improvement, Staley said. And while the game showcased an area in which Fulwiley can improve, Staley also was looking out for her player.

“I know that’s probably one of the things she has to improve on, but it was such a nip-and-tuck game that I don’t want her to lose confidence,” Staley said. “She’ll know exactly why she didn’t get extended minutes. I’ve always told our players if you play well, you get extended minutes. If you don’t, they have to go to someone else. It could be you at times, it could not be you at times.”

After all, though South Carolina is ranked No. 1 in the country, the Gamecocks are still a young team and there will be growing pains. But they did rally in the second half to take the lead and the win from UNC. Their next game comes on the road at 1 p.m. ET Sunday against Duke.

“We just have such a young team that they got to know, and hopefully she doesn’t feel good about not playing as much as she probably wanted to,” Staley said. “Hopefully we can get her in at Duke and hopefully play some extended minutes, but she’s got to be ready to rock and roll.”

Dawn Staley has been excited to see early-season upsets in women’s college basketball.

While her Gamecocks are a perfect 4-0, several of their top competitors already have been toppled. Preseason No. 1 LSU lost to Colorado to start the season, and preseason No. 2 UConn lost to NC State. And then-No. 2 Iowa was upset by Kansas State, almost one year after the Wildcats upset a top-5 Iowa team.

Meanwhile, Princeton nearly upset No. 3 UCLA, and Duke pushed then-No. 6 Stanford to overtime.

All of these are signs of growing parity in the women’s game, which Staley called “good for the sport.”

“I think women’s basketball is good,” she said after South Carolina’s 78-38 win over South Dakota State on Monday. “We could talk about parity, but we’re good. Our sport is at a really good place where anybody feels like they could beat anybody. It’s come to pass and I think that helps everybody else when you see it.”

While the Gamecocks have not yet been a victim, the upsets give them reason for better preparation, Staley said. After all, a team never knows if they could be next.

“When you see it, you prepare a little bit better,” she said. “You’ve got examples of what it could look like for you if you lose a basketball game. More so than just coaching your team up, they see it, they feel it. It is a real thing out there when you see teams get upset.”

And the upsets have come as the sport has reached new heights of popularity. With more eyes on the game than ever before, sometimes those upsets can feel monumental. But if you ask Staley, she’s seen this changing of the tides coming.

Earlier this month, Staley discussed the the rise in the sport’s popularity with Vanity Fair.

“Women’s basketball is bursting at the seams,” Staley said. “It is a long time coming.”

And that could mean a greater financial return, too. Broadcast rights for the NCAA women’s basketball tournament are set to be negotiated soon, and the deal could be worth more than $100 million.

“We need somebody to bet on us,” Staley said, “and I know that they’ll get a return on their investment.”

Joyce Edwards committed to South Carolina over LSU and Clemson. A conversation with WNBA star A’ja Wilson helped cement the decision for one of the top prospects in the class of 2024.

While Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley did a lot to bring in Edwards, who is the second-ranked prospect in the class, so did Wilson. Edwards had planned to wait until April to make her decision, when the regular signing period opens, but a meeting with the two-time WNBA champion during the Gamecocks’ 114-76 win over Maryland on Sunday helped seal the deal.

“Me and A’ja had a good conversation at halftime,” Edwards told the Greenville News. “All of the returning players there were really cool, but I had a conversation with A’ja specifically, because we play the most similar. She gave me a lot of good advice.”

South Carolina sophomore Chloe Kitts also provided a nudge, as the two played together this summer for Team USA at the FIBA U-19 World Cup. Kitts was “in her ear” the “whole time during USA Basketball” urging her to choose the Gamecocks, she said.

“I’m just so happy for her either way, even if she didn’t choose here,” Kitts said. “I actually sent her a message when I saw her top three just saying, do what’s best for you and where makes you happy. If it’s not here, then that’s OK. Go where you feel like you’re going to succeed.”

A native of South Carolina, Edwards chose to stay home with the Gamecocks, despite a big push from defending champion LSU. Staley is someone that she knows she can “count on” for anything, Edwards said.

“My top three schools were all kind of the whole package for me, but I knew I wanted to win as many national championships as possible, and Dawn really convinced me she can get me to that level,” Edwards said.

There was also the matter of her education. South Carolina does not have the specific engineering major that Edwards wanted, which almost kept her from the Gamecocks. But Staley worked with the university’s honors college to ensure that she could get the right degree.

“She tried her hardest and found ways to do it so I can get both experiences for my academics and athletics. It was just how hard she worked to not give up (on me),” Edwards said.

No. 1 South Carolina basketball is off to a historic start. The Gamecocks are averaging 107.0 points per game through their first two games of the season, shooting them up the AP Top 25 from No. 6 to No. 1. 

Such high-quality play is not uncommon under head coach Dawn Staley. And it shows in the program’s WNBA legacy. 

Staley has coached the Gamecocks since 2008, and since then, she’s helped produce multiple WNBA stars. Reigning WNBA Finals MVP A’ja Wilson, 2023 Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston, Tiffany Mitchell, Allisha Gray, Laeticia Amihere and more professional players came from Staley’s program.

“We produce pros,” Staley said. “The very best in the league. And if that’s not proof in the pudding, then this isn’t the place for you.”

South Carolina women’s basketball didn’t have this winning reputation when Staley took the helm in 2008, though. 

In 2008 and 2009, Staley and the Gamecocks had losing seasons. But every season thereafter, their record improved. South Carolina secured its first No. 1 ranking and its first Final Four appearance during the 2014-15 season. By 2022, the Gamecocks have appeared in four Final Fours and they’ve collected seven SEC tournament victories and two NCAA championships, among other accolades. 

Staley referred to her players as “the storytellers of the program.” While that may be true, South Carolina basketball likely would not have the WNBA pedigree that it has today without Staley’s coaching and guidance. 

After going shot-for-shot with No. 6 South Carolina for much of the first two quarters, No. 14 Maryland fell apart before halftime at Colonial Life Arena.

The Gamecocks went on a nine-point run in the final minute of the first half on their home court to secure a firm lead after 20 minutes of play. And their high rate of scoring continued for the rest of the game, adding to their historic start to the season.

South Carolina went on to beat Maryland by a score of 114-76 — the most points in a single game for the Gamecocks since 2020 and the most points against a ranked opponent in program history. Following on a 100-71 season-opening win against Notre Dame, South Carolina has scored at least 100 points in the first two games for the first time in program history.

“I actually think they’re better than last year,” Maryland head coach Brenda Frese said after the game.

The Gamecocks exploited the Terps’ zone defense and pulled them out of the paint. South Carolina pulled down a staggering 53 rebounds to Maryland’s 33, which allowed the Gamecocks to drop 28 second-chance points.

The Terps also struggled to maintain possession of the basketball — South Carolina forced 15 turnovers and was able to convert them to 23 points. 

The game ended with seven Gamecocks scoring in double figures. And if the loss wasn’t enough for Maryland, its highest scorer, Shyanne Sellers, exited the game late in the fourth quarter with an apparent injury to her foot. 

South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley’s squad was said to be “renovating” its lineup this year after losing 2023 WNBA rookie of the year Aliyah Boston and other starters. Yet the Gamecocks are averaging 107 points per game.

Notre Dame and South Carolina are facing off in Paris, France, to kick off the women’s college basketball season.

It will be the first NCAA regular-season basketball game on Parisian soil. And for South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley, the significance of the game extends beyond just that.

It’s something that Staley has dreamt of, as she has watched major sports leagues such as the NFL go overseas with their regular-season games.

“I always thought, why couldn’t we do it?” she told ESPN. “And then, what do you know? We’re doing it. I think it’s great.”

Part of why it’s great is because the trip will be educational for players. While it “is a business trip” – after all, the team isn’t going to Paris to lose – they’re also taking advantage of the experience of going overseas.

“We’re talking about the student-athlete experience,” Staley said. “We try do to that right here in our home country, in our home state. But when you’re able to give young people an experience like this, we don’t know what’s going to happen. We don’t know what we’re going to experience. It’s all very new to all of us, but I know we’re gonna have a good time.”

To her, it also represents how far the Gamecocks have come.

“We are a brand here at South Carolina. People want us to participate in things like this,” she told South Carolina news station WLTX. “I’m happy for our fans, they get a chance to cheer us on. We wanted the event organizer to put a fan package together for our fans and it sold out within hours. So, the power of what we created here, we travel well as far as our fans. They follow us.

“I think it’s pretty darn cool to be trendsetters in women’s basketball, something that has never been done before.”

The game will be broadcast on ESPN at 1 p.m. ET Monday.

Aliyah Boston took two dribbles. She pivoted. She pivoted again. Then, finding a sliver of space, she stepped through and scored.

The intricate move looked like the footwork of a WNBA veteran, not a rookie playing in her fourth professional game. But Boston isn’t like most rookies. She isn’t like most players.

She’s the kind of player that can go up against 2022 Sixth Woman of the Year Brionna Jones and execute a patient, high-level move to score. The kind of player that, so far, has replicated her efficient shooting numbers from college against the top basketball players in the world.

Through four games, Boston is averaging 15.8 points on 66.7% shooting.

“Aliyah is special, man,” Indiana Fever coach Christie Sides said Tuesday.

It’s why the Fever selected her first in the 2023 draft, and why Boston is going to be a key part of Indiana’s growth as the team looks to improve on last season’s 5-31 record.

And it’s not just Boston. The Fever have a core of young stars, including second-year player NaLyssa Smith, who is averaging 14.8 points and 12.0 rebounds through the first four games of the season.

Boston and Smith make for a dynamic duo in the frontcourt. They helped Indiana snap a 20-game losing streak with a 90-87 victory over the Atlanta Dream on Sunday. Then they led the way as the team took the Connecticut Sun to the brink on Tuesday in an 81-78 loss.

Against Atlanta, Smith had 23 points, 13 rebounds and 3 assists, and Boston finished with 13 points and 7 rebounds. In the loss to the Sun, Smith once again recorded a double-double with 14 points and 15 rebounds, while Boston had a season-high 20 points.

The two are learning to lean on each other, and their on-court chemistry is already strong.

“Having someone you can rely on for big buckets at the end of the game, that’s huge,” Smith said. “The more we gel, and the more we play together, it will be harder to guard us and stop us.”

Following the loss to Connecticut, sitting side by side, Smith and Boston remained in good spirits. Playing the Sun so closely, just days after their first win against Atlanta, felt like a big step.

“Just based off us playing them our very first game to now, I think there was a lot of improvement,” Boston said, referencing the Fever’s 70-61 opening day loss to the Sun. “So it feels good. I mean, it would feel better if we came out with a dub, but we look at what we need to improve on and see the areas where we did well.”

Sides agrees with her players. This could be a turning point for the Fever, she said, but they have to keep executing and improving every day.

In her first season as head coach, Sides has the tough task of building up a team that went a combined 17-73 over the last three seasons. Before topping the Dream, Indiana had tied for the longest losing streak in WNBA history.

But Sides, who spent 2022 as an assistant with Atlanta, likes the pieces she has – young players like Boston, Smith, Queen Egbo, Lexie Hull and Grace Berger, plus veterans like Kelsey Mitchell and Erica Wheeler.

Berger also was selected in the 2023 draft at No. 7 overall, and Sides sees her as a key component to the Fever’s future. The Indiana graduate played six minutes in the first half against the Sun, running the offense and recording a bucket on a hesitation blow-by.

“She’s going to be a good player,” Sides said. “But with rookies it just takes time. I have all the confidence in Grace when she goes in. She is going to keep getting better and getting more minutes.”

Rebuilding the franchise is no easy feat, but it’s one with a clear blueprint. Every game, every practice, every individual workout is a step in the right direction.

“We just go to work,” Sides said. “We stop talking, and we teach, and we go to work. That’s all we can do. And they’ve got to get the experience.”

Tuesday’s game was yet another experience the team needed: A close loss. The Fever kept within striking distance throughout the game, never letting the Sun pull away. It allowed them to have the final possession, down 3, with a chance to go to overtime.

Hull missed the shot, but the play was well-executed, Sides said. That’s something she’s seen major growth on over the first four games. When Sides calls a timeout, the Fever do exactly what she asks when they go back on the court.

That seems like a small thing, but the learning process is about taking those small things and building on them.

“When you’ve lost as much as some of these players have, you have to teach them how to win again,” Sides said. “You have to learn to win. There is a way to win. You have to have a sense of urgency, fight from the beginning, execute, do the little things … So that is what we are working on every day, and they are putting in the work.”

Zia Cooke has hit the ground running as a rookie in the WNBA. To those that know her, that’s not a surprise.

“She’s being coached and coached to play, not really coached to sit on the bench and be a roster spot,” South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley told the Los Angeles Times. “She’s primed to just receive her dream.”

A four-year starter at South Carolina, Cooke helped the Gamecocks to three Final Fours and a national championship in 2022. She led the team with 15.4 points per game on 40.5% shooting in her senior season, then went No. 10 overall to the Los Angeles Sparks in the WNBA draft.

And she’s started her WNBA career the same way she ended her collegiate one. In her debut last week, she had 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting through 15 minutes while adding two rebounds and two assists in the Sparks’ 94-71 win against the Phoenix Mercury.

“She’s not afraid of the big moment because she’s played in the big game,” Sparks coach Curt Miller said. “She’s ready.”

While she was limited to just 4 points in the Sparks’ second game, a 94-85 loss to the Las Vegas Aces, she again had two rebounds and two assists. Cooke credits her performance so far to the Sparks allowing her to be herself. Veterans have welcomed her off the court and helped empower her to perform the way she does on the court.

“When you’re a rookie, you don’t know who you should be,” Cooke said. “But for [my teammates] to let me openly be myself, I’m super thankful for that.”