Following a narrow loss to USC on the road on Friday, the Colorado women’s basketball team slipped in the rankings.
On Monday, the Buffs dropped two spots to No. 13 in the latest Associated Press Top 25. It is their lowest ranking since coming in at No. 20 in the preseason poll.
The Buffs (20-6, 10-5 Pac-12) bring a three-game losing streak into a matchup at No. 8 UCLA on Monday night.
CU was hit with its third straight loss, 87-81 at No. 7 USC on Friday. The Buffs had the lead midway through the third quarter before foul trouble caught up to them and USC pulled away late.
The Buffs spent 14 straight weeks in the top eight of the rankings and were at No. 4 in the Feb. 5 poll. They dropped to No. 8 the next week after a home loss to Oregon State. Then, they fell to No. 11 last week after a buzzer-beating loss at Utah on Feb. 16.
Despite the recent slide, CU is in the AP Top 25 for the 23rd consecutive week, dating back to last season. That’s the fourth-longest streak in program history.
South Carolina remained the unanimous No. 1 in this week’s poll, while Ohio State remained at No. 2. Texas jumped two spots to No. 3, Stanford slipped to No. 4 and Virginia Tech moved up three spots to No. 5, joining the top five for the first time this season.
Iowa slipped to No. 6, its lowest ranking of the season. USC, UCLA, LSU and Connecticut round out the top 10. From the Pac-12, in addition to Stanford, USC, UCLA and CU, Oregon State is at No. 11 and Utah is No. 18.
After the Monday night game against UCLA, the Buffs return home to conclude the regular season with matchups at the CU Events Center against Washington on Thursday (7 p.m., Pac-12 Network) and Washington State on Saturday (1 p.m., Pac-12 Network).
The Buffs come into the week tied with UCLA for fourth place in the Pac-12 standings.
In the NET rankings, a tool used by the NCAA committee for seeding the NCAA Tournament, the Buffs moved up one spot to No. 16 after Sunday’s games.
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