Women's college basketball rankings: Gonzaga moves up a spot to No. 22 in AP Top 25 poll (12/5/22)

Is there such a thing as an impressive loss?

Voters in the Associated Press Top 25 poll must think so, as the Gonzaga women’s basketball team (7-2) moved up a spot to No. 22 despite losing 84-63 to second-ranked Stanford (10-1).

The Zags had just seven active players for Sunday’s contest but remained competitive in the first half before Stanford’s 3-point shooting became too much to keep pace with.

Head coach Lisa Fortier’s squad also played Maine (3-6) and Stephen F. Austin (6-2) last week, both wins for the Zags.

Gonzaga received 106 points in the poll, placing them behind Arkansas (10-0) and ahead of Oklahoma (7-1).

Defending NCAA champion South Carolina (8-0) is the top-ranked team after picking up all 29 first-place votes. The Gamecocks are followed by Stanford, Ohio State (8-0), Indiana (9-0) and Notre Dame (7-1).

Rounding out the top 10 is UConn (6-1), Virginia Tech (8-0), North Carolina (6-1), North Carolina State (7-1) and Iowa State (6-1).

Here’s the full AP Top 25 poll for Week 5 of the 2022-23 season:

AP TOP 25 POLL

1. South Carolina 725 (29)

2. Stanford 696

3. Ohio State 646

4. Indiana 643

5. Notre Dame 586

6. UConn 573

7. Virginia Tech 530

8. NC State 487

8. North Carolina 487

10. Iowa St. 479

11. LSU 416

12. Arizona 387

13. UCLA 364

14. Michigan 337

15. Utah 332

16. Iowa 291

17. Oregon 248

18. Creighton 244

19. Baylor 180

20. Maryland 165

21. Arkansas 121

22. Gonzaga 106

23. Oklahoma 99

24. Kansas State 57

25. Villanova 25

Others receiving votes: Kansas 37, Marquette 30, Louisville 28, Texas 17, St. John's 14, South Florida 12, Miami (FL) 12, Virginia 8, Duke 5, Florida State 4, Rice 4, Purdue 3, Nebraska 2, Missouri 2, Seton Hall 1, Middle Tennessee 1