National champ South Carolina a unanimous No. 1 in final poll

South Carolina can add another first to its perfect season: The national champion Gamecocks finished atop the first Associated Press Top 25 wom- en’s basketball poll to be released after the NCAA Tournament.

The Gamecocks, who won their second title in three seasons Sunday with an 87-75 victory over Iowa, received all 35 first-place votes from a national media panel Monday. South Carolina was No. 1 every week this season except for the preseason poll, when the team was sixth, and at 38-0 became just the 10th team to finish a season undefeated.

It’s the first time in the 47-year history of the women’s Top 25 that the AP has released its final poll after the NCAA Tournament. Until this year, the final poll had been released after Selection Sunday, on the eve of the tournament.

Iowa was a unanimous choice at No. 2, the Hawkeyes’ best finish since they were second in the final poll of 1988. Final Four participants UConn and North Carolina State were third and fourth, respectively. The Huskies have been in the top 10 in the final poll every year since 1994 and in the top six every season since 2007.

NC State went from unranked in the preseason to a high of third during the season. The Huskies and Wolfpack made the biggest jumps in the final poll, each moving up seven places from the penultimate poll.

USC was fifth, earning its first ranking in the final poll since 2014 and its highest slot at the end of the season since the Trojans were third in 1986, when Cheryl Miller was the team’s standout.

LSU, Texas and Oregon State — all reached the Elite Eight — and Stanford and UCLA rounded out the top 10.

MORRY GASH/AP South Carolina players celebrate after beating Iowa on Sunday to win the NCAA title. The Gamecocks also finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, the first time the last poll of a season has come after the women’s tournament.