Notre Dame is the new No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll, ascending to the top spot Monday for the first time since 2019.

The Fighting Irish replaced UCLA, which lost its first game of the season last week, falling to rival USC 71-60. Notre Dame was last No. 1 on Jan. 21, 2019.

“It’s definitely an honor to be the nation’s top team, but we are just focused on getting better every day,“ Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said.

The Irish, who received 16 first-place votes from a 30-member national media panel, asserted their No. 1 ranking hours later with a 64-59 win over No. 11 Duke.

Texas moved up to second for its best ranking since 2017. The Longhorns, who garnered eight first-place ballots, became the first team to beat three straight top 10 teams since 2004-05, according to ESPN, topping South Carolina, Kentucky and LSU.

The Bruins had been No. 1 for 12 straight weeks after beating South Carolina in late November. UCLA fell to third and received the other six first-place votes.

USC moved up to fourth and UConn was fifth after routing then-No. 4 South Carolina 87-58 on Sunday. The Gamecocks, who saw their 71-game home winning streak end, fell to sixth. LSU and Ohio State were next.

North Carolina climbed up three spots to ninth for its highest ranking in three seasons after beating N.C. State 66-65 on Sunday. TCU was 10th.

No. 1 Notre Dame 64, No. 11 Duke 59 >> Hannah Hidalgo scored 19 points and No. 1 Notre Dame used a strong second half to beat No. 11 Duke on Monday, punctuating a big day for the Irish women.

Notre Dame (23-2, 14-0 ACC) won its 18th game in a row and 17th consecutive conference matchup.

Sonia Citron scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Fighting Irish. Maddy Westbeld scored 11 points.

Taina Mair scored 15 points to lead Duke (20-6, 11-3).

After leading only 29-27 at halftime, Notre Dame turned up the defensive pressure at the start of the third quarter to key a 17-1 run. Westbeld blocked a shot by Duke’s Reigan Richardson and grabbed the rebound, launching a pass to Hidalgo, who caught it near half court. Hidalgo then passed to Citron, who drove in for the fastbreak hoop to give Notre Dame a 35-27 lead.

The Fighting Irish forced 11 turnovers in the second half and limited Duke to 22 points in the half. After hitting five of its first six shots, Duke was only 15 for 47 for 32% the rest of the game.

No. 8 Ohio State 86, Iowa 78 (OT) >> Freshman guard Jaloni Cambridge had 29 points and four assists and Cotie McMahon had 25 points and eight rebounds and No. 8 Ohio State held off Iowa in overtime.

Cambridge’s sister, Kennedy Cambridge, had a career-high 16 points for the Buckeyes (22-3, 11-3 Big Ten).

Lucy Olsen had 27 points and seven assists for Iowa (18-8, 8-7), which had its six-game winning streak snapped.

The Hawkeyes trailed by as many as 14 points late in the first half. But they patiently chipped away at the lead and sent the game to overtime on Olsen’s two free throws with 3.6 seconds left in regulation. Ohio State led 69-57 with 1:35 left before Iowa went on a 17-5 run to force overtime.

Ohio State had a 79-78 lead in overtime when McMahon, who had made just 2 of her first 12 shots, drove and made a tough bank shot. Then, Kennedy Cambridge blocked a shot by Iowa’s Teagan Mallegni and passed to Taylor Thierry for a breakaway layup that made it 83-78 with 25 seconds left.

No. 17 West Virginia 70, No. 12 Kansas State 57 >> JJ Quinerly scored 26 points, Jordan Harrison added 18 points and No. 17 West Virginia beat 12th-ranked Kansas State for its 15th straight victory at home.

It was a matchup of the best offense and the best defense in the Big 12 with Kansas State scoring 81.3 points per game and West Virginia allowing just 53.5 ppg.

West Virginia forced Kansas State into a season-high 22 turnovers. The Wildcats shot 39.3% from the field, including 5 of 20 from the 3-point line.

Kyah Watson grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds, to go with four assists, four steals and five points for West Virginia (21-5, 11-4). Jordan Thomas added 11 points.

Temira Poindexter led Kansas State (24-4, 12-3) with 17 points. Zyanna Walker added 12 points.

Men’s basketball

Auburn near-unanimous No. 1 >> Auburn’s win at Alabama assured the Tigers would keep the No. 1 ranking in The Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll for a sixth consecutive week.

The Tigers (23-2) received 59 of 60 first-place votes in Monday’s poll, reclaiming nearly all the support lost when they fell at home to Florida on Feb. 8.

The two teams to beat the Tigers sit right behind them. Florida and Duke were tied for third last week, and the Gators inched past the Blue Devils to break that tie and take the No. 2 spot while claiming the remaining first-place vote.

Alabama fell to No. 4, followed by Houston, Tennessee, Texas A&M — with its highest ranking since December 2017 — Iowa State, Texas Tech and St. John’s to round out the top 10.

Cycling

Tour champ to retire >> Geraint Thomas, the former Tour de France champion who also won gold medals in track cycling for Great Britain at the Olympic Games in 2008 and ’12, announced that this will be his final year as a professional.

Thomas, 38, said he will focus on the Tour this summer with Ineos Grenadiers. He told the BBC that he will ride in support of the team’s ambitions and “maybe try to win a stage but just enjoy the race” that he won in 2018.

“Since I was a kid I dreamt of riding the Tour and being part of the Olympics and winning was obviously a dream as well, but to achieve that was just nuts,” he said.