After No. 20 Kansas fell to unranked Nebraska last week, just six teams remain unbeaten in NCAA Division I women’s college basketball this season.

No. 1 South Carolina, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Indiana, No. 10 LSU, No. 12 Utah and No. 25 St. John’s are all perfect thus far — but as conference play heats up, those perfect records will become harder to maintain.

Which undefeated team will be the last one standing?

No. 1 South Carolina (12-0)

In 2021-22, the Gamecocks seemed to have a high probability of making it through the regular season without a loss after they topped No. 2 Stanford on Dec. 21. But they were upset just one game later, in a surprising 70-69 loss to Missouri.

South Carolina ended up losing one more game, to Kentucky in the SEC tournament, before going on to win the NCAA title.

Last season’s loss to Missouri was shocking because of the opponent, but also because South Carolina looked essentially unbeatable up to that point. This season is different. I don’t expect the Gamecocks to make it to the tournament with a perfect record because we already have seen the formula to beat them.

While South Carolina scored a 73-64 win against UCLA on Nov. 29, the Bruins’ game plan was nearly perfect. They opted to put a defender on Aliyah Boston in the paint while running a four-man zone around her. While Boston still recorded 18 points, packing the paint disrupted South Carolina’s flow. The Gamecocks weren’t able to play inside out, and they went 1-of-14 from the 3-point line.

A fourth-quarter collapse kept UCLA from an upset win, but another team could put the same plan into practice for a chance to topple South Carolina. Of course, even if the plan is executed well, South Carolina still has enough talent to pull out a win – they have perhaps the deepest team in the country. But UCLA proved it is possible to upset the Gamecocks.

Still, of all the teams on this list, the Gamecocks have the best shot at a perfect record.

No. 3 Ohio State (13-0)

The Buckeyes had a scare against USF, as they trailed by as many as 18 in Tuesday’s contest. Even after making a comeback and forcing overtime, they trailed by 6 with 1:10 remaining.

But Ohio State scored eight straight to grab an improbable victory. Then the team followed that up with a convincing 84-67 win over No. 16 Oregon to preserve its unbeaten record.

No. 3 Ohio State rallied late and escaped an upset in OT last night ‼️ pic.twitter.com/YnSSEoTJrq

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) December 21, 2022

The win over Oregon also stands out as impressive, as the Buckeyes did it with a depleted squad.

Point guard Jacy Sheldon has been out with a leg injury since Nov. 30 and remains week-to-week. Sheldon is not just the team’s second-leading scorer but also its best defender, with six steals per game. Without Sheldon, the point guard duties fell to Madison Greene, but she was hurt in the win over USF. So the Buckeyes head into Big Ten play without two of their key players.

The Big Ten is full of talented opponents, and getting through it without a loss would be a tall order. The challenges start on Dec. 31 with No. 19 Michigan. Then, two weeks later Ohio State plays a Nebraska team that just topped previously undefeated Kansas.

The non-conference portion of the season closed on Wednesday with our 12th win! pic.twitter.com/BEXUqWBcwK

— Indiana Women’s Basketball (@IndianaWBB) December 22, 2022

No. 4 Indiana (12-0)

The Hoosiers started the season with a win over Tennessee. Then they topped No. 6 North Carolina in dominant fashion, and they did so without injured star Grace Berger.

But Big Ten play will make their perfect record hard to keep. The Hoosiers have to play Michigan, Maryland, Ohio State and Iowa twice each. There’s pretty much no way they make it through the conference slate without a loss.

That being said, Indiana has been able to maintain its perfect record thus far because of a balanced attack and a plethora of talent. Since Berger’s injury, everyone else has stepped up. Mackenzie Holmes leads the way with 19.8 points per game, followed by Sydney Parrish with 12.5, Sara Scalia and Yarden Garzon with 11.9 each. Chloe Moore-McNeil has slid nicely into the point guard spot, averaging 9.9 points and 5.2 assists per game.

No. 10 LSU (12-0)

Angel Reese is crazy talented, and LSU scores a lot of points. But the Tigers’ perfect record is largely because of the their opponents.

So far, the best team LSU has played is a 7-4 Oregon State squad. Other than the Beavers, their opponents have included: Bellarmine, Mississippi Valley State, Western Carolina, Houston Christian, Northwestern State, George Mason, UAB, Southeastern Louisiana, Tulane, Lamar and Montana State.

Because of that weak schedule, it’s hard to gauge just how good LSU is, and even harder to predict how long the Tigers can stay undefeated.

The Tigers could lose as soon as Dec. 29, when they take on a ranked team in No. 17 Arkansas — or, they could prove their doubters wrong and pass their first true test of the season. From there, the SEC will certainly provide better competition, including fellow undefeated team No. 1 South Carolina on Feb. 12.

Angel Reese's non-conference numbers are crazy 🔥

6th in PPG (24.6)
1st in RPG (14.7)
1st in double-doubles (12 in 12 games)
11th in FG% (63.5)

📷: @LSUwbkb pic.twitter.com/6l6qxGYi68

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) December 20, 2022

No. 12 Utah (12-0)

The Utes have played just one ranked opponent up to this point, but they made the most of it, topping Oklahoma 124-78.

The going will get tougher for Utah in Pac-12 play, especially in back-to-back games in January against No. 18 Arizona and No. 2 Stanford. Followed by No. 11 UCLA and No. 16 Oregon.

The Utes likely will not get through that gauntlet without a loss, but they have a chance to stay unbeaten until then. Before then, they face Southern Utah, Washington State, Washington, Colorado and Arizona State, and if one of those teams knocks them off, it certainly would be considered an upset.

The Utes have stayed unbeaten so far because of their high-powered offense. They average 93 points per game, with five-double digit scorers. Alissa Pili leads with 20.7 points per contest.

No. 25 St. John’s (12-0)

After playing a relatively light schedule, St. John’s worked its way into the AP Top 25 with a win over No. 21 Creighton on Dec. 4.

The Red Storm went up 9 points at the end of the first quarter and weathered runs from Creighton to secure a narrow 66-62 victory. The game was an impressive showing of maturity from an experienced St. John’s team. All five starters are fifth-year seniors or graduate students, and so are the first two players off the bench.

Because of this, I don’t expect St. John’s to drop a game to a team they should beat. Discipline is important in an undefeated season, and the Red Storm certainly have that. Their toughest test is yet to come, though, when they take on UConn on Jan. 11. There is a chance that Azzi Fudd is back for that game, so a loss is likely.

If St. John’s manages to get through the Huskies unscathed, they have to play Villanova, Marquette and DePaul twice, then they have rematches against Creighton and UConn. I imagine the Red Storm will have at least one loss on their record by the middle of January.

History made ✅ pic.twitter.com/gb2N8doqTx

— St. John's WBB (@StJohnsWBB) December 21, 2022

Adding to their already historic season, 2024/25 WSL champions and 2025 League Cup winners Chelsea FC handed Manchester United a 3-0 defeat in Sunday's 2025 FA Cup final, completing the club's second-ever domestic treble.

Though the Blues first claimed an elusive treble in the 2020/21 season, this year's roster did so without dropping a single match in any of the three domestic competitions.

"I could not have expected this," said first-year Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor about her debut success leading the Blues. "It is almost ideal in terms of domestic dominance."

To clinch that dominance, Chelsea upended the defending FA Cup champs Manchester United at London's iconic Wembley Stadium behind a brace from French fullback Sandy Baltimore and a header from USWNT attacker Catarina Macario.

Baltimore gave Chelsea the lead by slipping a late first-half penalty past 2024/25 WSL Golden Glove winner and USWNT goalkeeper prospect Phallon Tullis-Joyce, and the Blues never relented, with second-half sub Macario doubling their scoreline in the 84th minute before Baltimore tacked on a final goal in stoppage time.

"It's a very emotional day," an emotional Macario told the broadcast after finishing her first season following a long ACL recovery. "It's a trophy we always wanted to win."

"All the credit to my players," said Bompastor. "We showed our mentality and our values in this game so we ended the season in an almost perfect scenario – we won, we were playing at Wembley, the stadium was nearly sold out, and we had a strong performance and result against a strong opponent."

"It is an almost ideal way to finish the season."

FA Cup crowds prove sustained demand for women's soccer

Chelsea FC's undefeated treble-winning season wasn't the only notable victory on Sunday, as the FA Cup final drew a crowd of over 74,000 fans for the third straight year.

Sunday's 74,412 attendance mark was just shy of both last year's crowd of 76,082 and the 77,390 fans who watched Chelsea defeat the Red Devils in 2023 — all well beyond the tournament final's previous record of 49,094 attendees achieved in 2022.

Fueled by the football fervor following England's 2022 Euro victory — the country's first international trophy, men's or women's, since the 1966 men's World Cup — the 2023 FA Cup final still stands as the largest crowd at a domestic women's soccer match across all nations.

With Sunday's match joining the over-74,000 attendance club, it's clear the post-Euros enthusiasm wasn't a blip, but a boost to the continued growth and sustained success of the women's game.

While most WNBA stars hit the court running this weekend, a few saw their 2025 campaigns already shortened as teams released season-opening injury reports.

Phoenix forward Kahleah Copper will miss four to six weeks of play, the Mercury reported on Saturday, after the 2024 Olympic gold medalist underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on her left knee last week.

Another knee injury has LA's Rae Burrell sidelined for the next six to eight weeks, after the fourth-year guard took a knock to the right leg just 41 seconds into the Sparks' 2025 debut win over Golden State.

On Friday, the Mystics released updates on both second-year forward Aaliyah Edwards and rookie guard Georgia Amoore. While another assessment of the Unrivaled 1v1 runner-up's back injury will occur in two more weeks, Washington confirmed that the Australian standout will miss the entire 2025 WNBA season after undergoing a successful surgery to repair her right ACL.

Seattle's Katie Lou Samuelson is also out for the full 2025 campaign, with the 27-year-old Storm forward recovering from last week's successful surgery after tearing her right ACL in practice on May 1st.

Kitley makes long-awaited WNBA debut as Brink eyes return

In more uplifting news, LA's Cameron Brink is on track to return to the Sparks sometime next month, one year after her standout rookie season came to a halt in a left ACL tear.

Already celebrating, however, is 2024 second-round draftee Elizabeth Kitley, who battled back from injury to make her WNBA debut and score her first league points in Las Vegas's Saturday loss to New York.

The Aces took a draft chance on Kitley, despite the center suffering an ACL tear in her final NCAA postseason. In response, the former Virginia Tech star successfully translated her year-long delayed shot at a pro career by surviving Las Vegas's brutal 2025 roster cuts.

Notably, Kitley's close friend and collegiate on-court counterpart with the Hokies is the aforementioned Amoore, who will aim for a rookie-season redo of her own next year.

The No. 1 Kansas City Current strengthened their grip on the 2025 NWSL Shield race on Friday, taking down now-No. 3 Orlando 1-0 on the road to earn a four-point lead atop of the NWSL table.

Reigning league MVP Temwa Chawinga scored the top-table game's lone goal. With five goals in nine matches, Chawinga now sits in a four-way tie for second place in the 2025 Golden Boot race.

"If you don't come with heart, you have no chance," Current head coach Vlatko Andonovski said after the match. "And today I think we showed heart."

Kansas City now stands 7-2-0 on the season, putting the NWSL Shield firmly within their grasp.

Kansas City's rise aside, the weekend's biggest drama hovered near the playoff line.

Gotham FC fell to No. 2 San Diego 1-0 on Friday, sending the Bats skidding to No. 8 on a three-game winless streak while boxing No. 9 North Carolina out of playoff contention — despite the rising Courage securing their third win in four games with Saturday's 2-0 victory over last-place Chicago.

"Obviously, we were hot for a little bit, and teams have slumps all the time, so now it's just finding a way," Gotham midfielder Jaelin Howell said of the team's recent struggles.

While some rebuilds soar, last year's postseason contenders are still finding their way as the league moves into the second third of the 2025 season.

Indiana's 35-point blowout win over Chicago wasn't Saturday's only newsmaker, as a controversial foul on Sky forward Angel Reese by Fever guard Caitlin Clark sparked intense off-court conversations and a WNBA investigation into subsequent fan misconduct.

Clark's third-quarter foul against Reese incited a brief dust-up between the second-year stars, with Clark's offense upgraded to a Flagrant 1 while Reese and Fever center Aliyah Boston picked up a pair of offsetting technicals for their reactions.

"Basketball play. Refs got it right. Move on," Reese said after the game, while Clark told reporters, "It was just a good play on the basketball. I'm not sure what the ref saw to upgrade it, and that's up to their discretion."

Immediately following the flagrant ruling, however, Indiana fans allegedly directed racially charged remarks toward Reese, prompting the league to open an investigation on Sunday.

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Officials acknowledged allegations of racist abuse inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse, saying the WNBA "strongly condemns racism, hate, and discrimination in all forms," and that they're "looking into the matter."

"We stand firm in our commitment to providing a safe environment for all WNBA players," said Pacers Sports & Entertainment CEO Mel Raines, who oversees the Fever, in a statement.

"We will do everything in our power to protect Chicago Sky players, and we encourage the league to continue taking meaningful steps to create a safe environment for all WNBA players," echoed Sky CEO and president Adam Fox.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time Fever-related fan misconduct has taken center stage, as last season's storylines start to spill over into the 2025 WNBA campaign.

In anticipation of the issue, the league launched "No Space for Hate" on Thursday, describing the campaign as "a multi-dimensional platform designed to combat hate and promote respect across all WNBA spaces — from online discourse to in-arena behavior."