Notre Dame Moves to No. 1 in Women's AP Poll

Notre Dame's Niele Ivey and Kelly Siemon now understand how the players at Connecticut and Tennessee have felt all these years. <br><br>For the first time in history, the Irish are ranked No. 1 in

Tuesday, January 23rd 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Notre Dame's Niele Ivey and Kelly Siemon now understand how the players at Connecticut and Tennessee have felt all these years.

For the first time in history, the Irish are ranked No. 1 in women's basketball.

``It's exciting,'' Ivey said. ``It's just amazing to me now to realize that it's official.''

Notre Dame had expected to move to No. 1 in The Associated Press poll after its 92-76 victory over Connecticut a week ago. It finally happened Monday, when the Irish ended UConn's 30-week run at the top, the second longest in the poll's 25-year history.

Before this, Notre Dame had never been higher than third, the position it held for the past six weeks.

``I still don't think it's hit me, but it's really nice to finally be the number one team in the nation,'' Siemon said. ``It's kind of something we've thought about ourselves for a long time, but we don't usually get a lot of credit from people outside of Notre Dame.''

The Irish (18-0) got plenty on Monday, receiving 40 of a possible 41 first-place votes from the national media panel. Notre Dame had 1,024 points to 978 for Connecticut (15-1), which received the other first-place vote.

Connecticut, which had been a unanimous No. 1 all season, is now second.

``Right now we've made a giant step forward,'' said Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw. ``There haven't been that many teams that have been number one in the country at any time. I think we're just thrilled to be there right now.''

McGraw knows her history. Notre Dame is just the seventh school to hold the No. 1 ranking since the 1994-95 season and the 19th since the poll started in 1976.

Connecticut bounced back from the loss in South Bend, its first in 31 games, with decisive victories over Old Dominion and Pittsburgh. Notre Dame followed the big win with a 72-47 victory at Seton Hall.

In the shuffling at the top, Tennessee got bumped from second to third despite two strong efforts after losing its best player, Tamika Catchings, to a knee injury. The Lady Vols beat Georgia 85-69 three days after Catchings got hurt and handed Kentucky its worst loss ever, 110-38.

The poll had two newcomers, Villanova at No. 24 and Colorado at No. 25. Villanova made it for the first time in 14 years.

Mississippi State, Baylor and Virginia dropped out. Mississippi State had been 21st. Baylor and Virginia were tied for 25th.

No. 4 Duke and No. 5 Georgia traded places, and the rest of the Top 10 stayed the same. Purdue was sixth, followed by Iowa State, Louisiana Tech, Texas Tech and Florida.

No. 11 LSU, No. 12 Oklahoma and No. 13 Southwest Missouri State all moved up one spot, while Rutgers fell three places to 14th after losing to Villanova.

Clemson, which beat Virginia, Georgia Tech and Florida State during the past week, jumped five places to 15th. Vanderbilt was 16th, followed by Texas, Xavier, Penn State and Oregon.

Utah, North Carolina State, Arizona, Villanova and Colorado held the final five places.

Villanova (13-4) appeared for the first time since it was 17th in the final poll of the 1986-87 season. The victory over Rutgers was the eighth in the last nine games for the Wildcats, who won that day without coach Harry Perretta.

Perretta missed the game to be with his wife, Helen, who gave birth to the couple's second child, a son.

Colorado (13-3) has won eight of nine games since coach Ceal Barry made her players practice in their own clothes after a 92-66 loss at Iowa. The Buffaloes, who last appeared in the poll on Dec. 30, 1997, beat Florida in December and their only loss in the last five weeks was to Oklahoma.