Nebraska Joins Women's Basketpoll Top 25

Monday, January 22nd 2007, 12:40 pm

By: News On 6

Nebraska hopes to stay in the Top 25 long enough to enjoy it this time. The Cornhuskers returned to the AP women's basketball poll at No. 25 on Monday, while No. 1 Duke widened its lead over second-ranked North Carolina after picking up two additional first-place votes.

Nebraska (16-3) joined the poll at 25th on Dec. 4, then lost to Minnesota the next night and dropped out of the rankings the following week.

But the Cornhuskers have won 10 of 11 since, including their first victory at Texas, and are off to their best start since 1996-97. Their only loss in that stretch was to No. 6 Oklahoma.

``If we can continue to stay ranked well into February, then we're going to feel pretty good about where we are,'' Nebraska coach Connie Yori said. ``Because that means we're winning.''

Still, Yori knows the ranking doesn't change anything for her team, which is alone in second place in the Big 12 at 4-1 and has a tough game coming up Wednesday at No. 21 Texas A&M.

``Whether you're number 27 or number 25 or number 30, you've got to prepare and you've got to play the game,'' she said. ``You can't get too caught up where you're ranked, that's for sure.''

Duke, which replaced Maryland at No. 1 last week after beating the Terrapins, received 39 of 50 first-place votes from a national media panel and had 1,237 points _ 27 more than North Carolina. The margin was 23 points last week, when Duke had 37 first-place votes.

The Blue Devils beat North Carolina State in their only game last week and took a 19-0 record into Monday night's game at No. 4 Tennessee.

North Carolina (22-0) received the 11 other first-place votes. The Tar Heels won three times last week, including an 82-76 victory over Connecticut. They face a much-anticipated game at No. 3 Maryland on Sunday.

Maryland (20-1), the defending NCAA champion, has won three of its last four games with North Carolina, including an 81-70 victory in last year's national semifinals.

Tennessee trailed Maryland by only 12 points in the voting and Ohio State remained fifth. Then came the only change among the top 13 teams, No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 7 Connecticut changing places. LSU was eighth, Stanford ninth and Arizona State 10th.

George Washington, Purdue and Baylor held the next three places. Georgia moved up two spots to 14th after beating Vanderbilt and Florida State last week. Vanderbilt fell one place to 15th and was followed by Bowling Green, Marquette, Louisville, Middle Tennessee and California.

Texas A&M, Mississippi, Michigan State, Texas and Nebraska completed the Top 25.

Kansas State, which had been 25th, lost to Nebraska and Baylor and dropped out after just one week in the poll.

Texas A&M had the biggest drop, falling four places after a 64-45 loss at Texas, which had lost at Iowa State earlier in the week. The Longhorns dropped two spots.

Louisville fell three places after splitting a pair of games. The Cardinals lost at South Florida, then bounced back to beat Rutgers at home.

Nebraska followed its 70-63 victory over Kansas State with a 76-66 win at Missouri, the Cornhuskers' 10th straight on the road. Their only loss outside Lincoln was at Arizona State in the season opener.

Experience has been a key in that road success. Yori's rotation includes seniors Kiera Hardy, Chelsea Aubry, Ashley Ford and Jelena Spiric and junior Danielle Page. The Cornhuskers also are getting solid play from sophomores Kelsey Griffin and TK LaFleur and freshman Cory Montgomery.

``We have played with good composure, we have found different ways to win games,'' Yori said. ``The bottom line is we've got pretty good experience. We have a number of players who have been in a lot of tight games over the years.''

The Duke game began a challenging week for Tennessee, which plays at Vanderbilt on Thursday. But it's an even bigger week for the Pac-10's top three teams, with Stanford playing at Arizona State on Saturday and California going there on Thursday.

Stanford is 9-0 in the league, Arizona State 8-1 and Cal 6-3. Arizona State probably will have to finish the season without top reserve Dymond Simon, who was the team's No. 3 scorer. Simon injured her left knee in a victory over Southern Cal on Sunday.