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, faced No. 11 Duke on Monday night.

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 the host Fighting Irish used a strong second half to beat the Blue Devils.

Notre Dame (23-2, 14-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), which moved up to No. 1 for the first time in more than six years earlier in the day, won its 18th game in a row and 17th consecutive conference matchup.

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

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 the host Buckeyes held off the Hawkeyes 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.

NO. 17 WEST VIRGINIA 70, NO. 12 KANSAS STATE 57: JJ Quinerly scored 26 points, Jordan Harrison added 18 points and the Mountaineers best the Wildcats for their 15th straight victory at home.

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 Big 12).

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

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. Auburn had been the unanimous No. 1 for three straight weeks before that loss, but remained at the top last week despite seeing nearly half of those first-place votes go primarily to Alabama, with a few to Florida and Tennessee.

But the Tigers won Saturday in a 1-vs.-2 road matchup against the rival Crimson Tide, hours after the committee that will choose the 68-team field for the NCAA Tournament put Auburn as its No. 1 overall seed in its preliminary rankings.

Rounding out the top 10 are No. 2 Florida, No. 3 Duke, No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Houston, No. 6 Tennessee, No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 8 Iowa State, No. 9 Texas Tech and No. 10 St. John’s.

NO. 3 DUKE 80, VIRGINIA 62: Freshman star Cooper Flagg had 17 points and 14 rebounds, notching his seventh double-double of the season before halftime, as the visiting Blue Devils cruised past the Cavaliers.

Duke (23-3, 15-1 ACC), which also got 17 points from Kon Knueppel, has won three straight since its lone conference loss Feb. 8 at No. 18 Clemson.

Andrew Rohde had 15 points, five rebounds and five assists for Virginia (13-13, 6-9).

NO. 19 ARIZONA 74, BAYLOR 67: Tobe Awaka had 14 points and 12 rebounds as the visiting Wildcats moved into second place alone in the Big 12 Conference with a win over the Bears.

Caleb Love and Henri Veesaar each had 13 points for Arizona (18-8, 12-3), whose back-to-back losses last week to Kansas State and No. 5 Houston dropped it six spots in the latest AP Top 25 poll.

VJ Edgecombe scored 24 points for Baylor (16-10, 8-7).

TENNIS

Top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz overcame Croatian veteran Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-4 Monday to reach the round of 16 at the Qatar Open.

The 36-year-old Cilic was playing his first match of the season after recovering from a long-term knee injury. The Croatian led 4-3 and 0-40 on Alcaraz’s serve in the second set, but the Spanish four-time major winner managed to recover and then broke in the next game.

Alcaraz will play either Zhang Zhizhen of China or Italy’s Luca Nardi next.

Earlier, seventh-seeded Grigor Dimitrov lost 6-4, 6-4 to Jiri Lehecka.

Also on Monday, eighth-seeded Jack Draper beat Alexei Popyrin 6-2, 7-6 (4) to set up a meeting with another Australian, Christopher O’Connell.

Several other top players will play their first matches today.

Second-seeded Alex de Minaur will face Roman Safiullin. Novak Djokovic will take on Matteo Berrettini.

Former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka rallied from a set and a break down to beat Anhelina Kalinina 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 Monday and reach the second round of the Dubai Championships. Azarenka will face second-seeded Iga Swiatek, who had a bye into the second round.

Just two days after winning the Qatar Open title in Doha, Amanda Anisimova lost 6-2, 6-3 to fellow American McCartney Kessler.

No. 11-seeded Diana Shnaider ousted Magdalena Frech 6-2, 6-2 while No. 12 Mirra Andreeva beat Elina Avanesyan 6-2, 6-1 to set up a meeting with 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova.

CYCLING

Former Tour de France winner Egan Bernal broke his collarbone in a crash during a race in Spain, his team said Monday.

The 28-year-old Colombian cyclist was hospitalized after the incident at the Jaén Paraíso Interior Classic, held in Andalusia.

“Following a thorough assessment at the hospital this evening after his crash at Clasica Jaen, Egan has been diagnosed with a fractured clavicle,” British team INEOS Grenadiers said in a statement. “He will remain under the expert care of our medical team, and a comprehensive recovery plan will be implemented to support his return to training and racing.”