George Washington University Athletics
Women's Basketball Ranked 25th in AP Poll
1/16/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
GW upset then-No. 19 Temple (12-4) by 17 points on Wednesday, 58-41, as Temple slipped two spots to No. 21. In November, GW beat then-No. 19-ranked Purdue (13-2) who just moved up to 11th in the poll. This is the first time GW's women and men have been ranked in the same season since 1997-98.
This is the first time that the Colonials have been nationally ranked since the 2003-04 season when GW was No. 25 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll. This week's Coaches' Poll comes out on Tuesday and the Colonials were tied for 30th with 15 votes in last weeks poll.
Tennessee, which was GW's last home loss on December 7th, is ranked first in both polls with a perfect 17-0. GW actually led the Lady Vols for the first 10 minutes of that game. Purdue has steadily moved up in the polls after losing to GW, 49-47, at the Junkanoo Jam on November 25th. Purdue, who has lost only one other game, is a season-high 11th in the AP Poll, while Temple is 21st after topping out at 16th.
At 11-4, this is the Colonials best start through the first 15 games of the season since the 1999-2000 team went 13-2 to start the year. That team finished 26-6 and went to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Colonials have started strong despite having the eighth toughest strength of schedule in the country. GW's RPI is now the 13th-best in the country according to www.collegerpi.com.
At 4-0 in conference, the Colonials are the final remaining unbeaten team in Atlantic 10 play. The last time the team was undefeated in conference for this long was when the 2002-03 squad started with wins in their first nine A-10 games en route to a 15-1 conference record.
Ironically, GW bumped North Carolina State from the AP Poll, despite suffering their last loss of the season to the Wolfpack in their last game of 2005. Since then, GW has won all five of its games in 2006 and with 78 votes had three more than NC State to earn the final slot in this week's AP Top 25 Poll.
