Iowa women’s basketball suffered its first loss of the season over the weekend.
The Hawkeyes fell against Tennessee, 78-68, in a back-and-forth affair in the Shark Beauty Women’s Champions Classic from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The game saw 10 ties and 16 lead changes. Ultimately, a 14-1 run to close the game from the Volunteers and Iowa’s 30 turnovers that Tennessee turned into 42 points proved to be the difference.
Senior guard Lucy Olsen finished with 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting in the loss. As Iowa falls to 8-1, the Hawkeyes also dipped down in the latest AP Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Poll.
Iowa slid four spots to No. 21 in the latest edition. Meanwhile, Tennessee (7-0) made its season debut at No. 19. It ended the Volunteers’ longest drought in the 48-year history of the women’s basketball poll.
Tennessee had not been ranked since Nov. 27, 2023, a span of 22 polls. Since the rankings began in 1976, Tennessee has been in the Top 25 in 779 of 870 total weeks (89.5%).
The new top five features No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 UConn, No. 3 South Carolina, No. 4 LSU and No. 5 USC.
Michigan State was this week’s biggest riser, climbing seven spots to No. 17.
Here’s the latest AP Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Poll in full.
Others receiving votes:
Alabama 73, Illinois 69, California 23, Stanford 18, Vanderbilt 15, Utah 14, Louisville 9, Richmond 8, South Dakota St. 8, Creighton 5, Oklahoma St. 4, Harvard 3, Florida St. 3, Texas Tech 3, Baylor 1.
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