April 4, 2002

With a 25-7 final record and a berth in the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight, the South Carolina women’s basketball team finished the 2001-2002 season ranked at number six by the ESPN/USA Today Coach’s Poll.

The sixth place finish represents the team’s highest ranking of the season. The Gamecocks spent one week at #7 earlier during the week of January 21st .

South Carolina earned its first ranking in 11 years on Monday, November 26th (in week four) after the victory over ninth-ranked Duke University in the Duke Women’s Basketball Classic Championship Game. It was the first time since the third week of the 1990-1991 season that the USC women had earned a national ranking.

The Lady Gamecocks joined the ESPN/USA Today polls on Monday, November 10th at number 22. On January 7th, the South Carolina Gamecocks made into the Top 10 in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll for the first time in 20 years with its # 9/10 ranking in both polls.

The highest ranking ever by a South Carolina team came during the 1981-82 season when the Lady Gamecocks held onto second-place in the AP polls for three weeks (weeks 5, 6 and 7).