UConn women remain No. 1

With most teams taking a break for the holidays, little changed in the women’s college basketball rankings.

Connecticut remained the unanimous No. 1 choice for the fifth straight week and the next 22 spots in The Associated Press poll stayed the same Monday.

North Carolina was at No. 2, followed by Texas A&M, Texas and Oklahoma.

Only twice before had there been as little movement in the poll — that was in 1978 and 1987, also during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

There were only a few games this past week. Thirteen of the Top 25 teams were off and Oklahoma State was the only program to play twice, easily routing Eastern Kentucky and North Texas.

Notre Dame was the lone team to only win by single digits, topping Charlotte 68-61. The other ranked teams won by an average of 33 points this week.

New Mexico entered the poll at No. 25 despite not playing. Had Arizona State not lost to Nebraska on Sunday, there was a good chance the entire Top 25 would have remained the same.

Duke stayed in sixth and Baylor was seventh. The Bears had a game against No. 13 California wiped out last Monday when they were stranded in Portland.

Tennessee was eighth. The Lady Vols visit Gonzaga on Tuesday before flying across country to play No. 15 Rutgers on Saturday. Auburn and Louisville round out the first 10.

Stanford, Notre Dame, California, Maryland and Rutgers made up the next five, followed by Virginia at 16th, Ohio State, Florida, Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt.

Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Georgia Tech, South Dakota State and New Mexico rounded out the poll. The Jackrabbits made the lone move in the poll climbing one spot to 24.

The Lobos, who were last in the poll on Jan. 1, 2007, may have a short-lived return as they visit Texas A&M today.