FAIRFIELD, Conn. — The Fairfield Stags are celebrating on Monday after the women’s basketball team cracked The Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time in school history.
The Stags have been on a dominant roll this season, already breaking the school record for victories – and they have two games left in the regular season.
Fairfield, who replaced West Virginia in the poll, became the fourth team from the Metro Atlantic Conference to earn a spot in the Top 25, joining Saint Peter’s, LaSalle and Marist, whose last ranking was in 2011.
“It's a huge moment. This place is special,” Fairfield coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis said. “One of the major reasons I came here is that it was a program on the brink of being on the national stage. We'll for sure celebrate it. We talk a lot about a team enjoying the moment and being in the moment. This is a big moment."
RELATED: Fairfield women extend the nation's second-longest active winning streak to 23 straight games
Fairfield is 26-1 with a 24-win streak so far this season and is the only team in the country besides undefeated South Carolina with one or fewer losses.
The Stags have 14 true road victories, which is tied with Saint Joseph’s for most in the country.
“I think we knew we’d be pretty good. I use the term a lot, cautiously optimistic. I didn’t imagine what we did to this point,” Thibault-DuDonis said. “We have good senior leadership and a healthy balance of seniors and young guys. We kept learning and growing along the way.”
Meanwhile, the UConn women’s basketball team capped off a winning week with a climb up one spot to No. 9. It was all part of a top 10 reshuffle on the eve of conference tournaments.
Stanford moved back up to No. 2 after a weekend sweep of Oregon State and Oregon. Iowa knocked off then-No. 2 Ohio State on Sunday behind Caitlin Clark, who became the NCAA Division I scoring leader during the game. The Big Ten champion Buckeyes fell to fourth.
The Gamecocks are in a familiar spot atop the poll after finishing their regular season undefeated for the second consecutive year. Dawn Staley's squad is the top seed in the SEC Tournament this week.
RELATED: Thibault-DuDonis, carrying on the family business, has Fairfield on a 20-game winning streak
Southern California was fifth, its highest ranking since 1994 when the team was fourth. Texas dropped three spots to sixth.
UCLA, LSU and UConn were next. N.C. State moved up two places to 10th, passing ACC regular-season champion Virginia Tech, which fell six places to 11th.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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