UConn moves up to No. 4 in AP Top 25

The UConn women’s basketball team moved up one spot to No. 4 in Monday’s AP Top 25 Poll after edging out a win at Providence and battling No. 1 South Carolina on Sunday in an 81-77 loss.

This is the highest the Huskies have been ranked in the AP Poll since being No. 3 on Nov. 21 in Week 3 of the poll.

UConn (21-3) had previously been ranked at No. 5 for the last three weeks, but voters were apparently impressed after the Huskies gave South Carolina a run for its money and showed they are able to compete with anyone despite being shorthanded.

The Gamecocks (23-0) remained at No. 1 (as they have all season long), followed by No. 2 Indiana (22-2), No. 3 LSU (23-0), No. 4 UConn and No. 5 Iowa (19-4). Stanford, which was No. 2 last week, dropped to No. 6 after losing to unranked Washington on Sunday, 72-67.

Outside of UConn, the Big East was represented in the poll by Villanova, which jumped up four spots to No. 15.

The Huskies have their last stretch of back-toback road games this season this week with games at Marquette (Wednesday, 8 p.m.) and Georgetown (Saturday, 5 p.m.).

And the team may be close to playing with nine available players for the first time since Dec. 21.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma said Sunday that Caroline Ducharme could return from concussion protocol as early as this week if she responds well to multiple complete practices in a row.

Auriemma said while Ducharme is still having good and bad responses to workouts, her skills on the court have been better than ever.

“It’s really frustrating because you watch her out there and her range is even better than it’s ever been, her release is even quicker than it’s ever been,” he said.

Big East weekly honors: Junior Aaliyah Edwards was named to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll on Monday after scoring a team-high 25 points (one shy of her careerhigh) on 10 of 14 shooting against the Gamecocks on Sunday.