Women’s division one Louisville was bounced, 74-60, Monday night

Now there are none, not a single women’s college basketball with an unblemished record. Now it comes down to which hand has the M & M as changes will come in the rankings.

But there’s no doubt that previously undefeated Louisville will not remain on top of the heap.

Perhaps the Cardinals (17-1) will hand it over to 4th-ranked North Carolina State after the once-beaten Wolfpack paid them a visit Monday night and coasted to a 74-60 win, that after NC State was coming off a 15-point 75-63 overtime defeat at unranked Virginia Tech on Thursday, the same day that 3rd-ranked Connecticut was handed a 90-87 defeat at non-conference, 17th-ranked Arkansas.

To follow the bouncing ball, the previously unbeaten Huskies then bounced back three days later to hit the road again and hammer 17th-ranked DePaul, 90-67, in a rout that was not as close as the final score would indicate. And this took us to the Monday nightshowdown when North Carolina State won handily after a close first half that had the Wolfpack up 29-25. But in the second half, i it took charge and outscored the home side, 45-30, at KFC Yumi Center.

Maybe South Carolina, now No. 2 in the latest rankings, might take over the top spot? But we won’t know until the new top-25 rankings are announced next Monday morning. The Gamecocks have one loss and play a non-conference game on February 8that UConn, whose other games will be against the Big East, where it returned after dominating the American Athletic Conference. South Carolina plays in the Southeastern Conference.

But in the Atlantic Coast Conference matching NC State and Louisville before an announced turnout of 2,293, the Wolfpack came to play as 6-foot-5 junior post Elissa Cuname returned for the first time since she tested COVID-19 positive back on December 12th and was placed on protocol. She had missed the previous two games. This time, she responded with 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting and took down six rebounds.

It was the first Wolfpack victory at Louisville in four years. It also picked up 16 points each from 6-0 sophomore guard Akia Brown-Turner and 6-2 sophomore forward Jada Boyd, while 5-4 senior guard Raina Perez added 15. For the Cardinals, 5-6 senior guard turned in the game-high 29 points, but was the only one in double figures.

It proved to be too tall a task for Louisville. It was outrebounded 44-29. and that included 36-18 in the paint while shooting 38 percent from the field. North Carolina State was 44 percent from the floor as it advanced to 12-1 overall and 7-1 in the ACC. The Cards lost for the first time in 18 starts and dropped to 9-1 in the conference while struggling to make back-to-back baskets.

For NC State, it was the second success over a top-ranked team after it disposed of South Carolina, 54-46 on December 3rd. It plays next at North Carolina and Louisville heads for Wake Forest.

The updated top-25 now has UCLA at No. 5, Stanford at No. 6, Texas A & M at No. 7, Baylor at No. 8, Arizona at No. 9, and Maryland at No. 10. Baylor won the 2019 national championship, but last year’s season was cut short via the coronavirus pandemic.

In the latest (John) Wooden top-20 personal rankings, UConn’s Paige Bueckers is the lone freshman.