Sports
 

Houston on brink of top 10

By Christian Schmidt
The Daily Cougar

The Lady Cougars are knocking on the door. After jumping six spots to No. 11 in The Associated Press Women's College basketball poll, Houston is threatening to break into the top 10 for the first time in the program's history.

Houston finished the regular season with a 24-3 record overall and 13-1 in Conference USA play. The Lady Cougars beat No. 16 Texas Christian 76-71 Friday to secure the team's first Conference USA regular season title.

With the No. 11 ranking, a ratings percentage index that's ninth best and a nine-game winning streak, the Lady Cougars are one of the hottest teams in the nation. If they win the C-USA Championship Tournament, in which they are the heavy favorites, Houston will likely earn a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Women's Tournament.

The C-USA Tournament begins Thursday. Houston, which has a first-round bye, will play its first game Friday against the winner of the South Florida/East Carolina game.

They're back

The Tennessee Lady Vols are back on top of the poll. Connecticut, last week's No. 1, lost 59-56 to Villanova, dropping the Huskies to No. 4.

Tennessee finished the regular season with an undefeated record in Southeastern Conference play, going 14-0 and finishing with an 85-62 dismantling of No. 15 Louisiana State.

Tennessee was followed by Duke, Texas, Connecticut and Penn State, which all received at least one first-place vote. The top spot has changed five times in the last nine weeks.

The Big 12 Conference has four teams in the top 13 spots, with No. 3 Texas, No. 8 Kansas State, No. 9 Texas Tech and No. 13 Colorado.

Oklahoma tied the Lady Cougars, moving from No. 23 last week to No. 17. 

Minnesota, struggling without leading scorer Lindsey Whalen, has lost three of its last four and tumbled to No. 18, six spots down from last week.

Villanova, fresh off its victory over Connecticut, jumped into the poll at No. 23. C-USA's DePaul held on to No. 24 after losing its last three games to Houston, TCU and Marquette.

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