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Iowa earns 1st AP Poll Top 10 ranking since 2024

This week’s AP Poll update saw little fireworks, as NCAA women’s basketball’s elite continue to find their form deep into conference play.

• The six highest-ranked programs held their ground, with No. 1 UConn and No. 5 Vanderbilt standing tall as the season’s sole undefeated DI teams.

• No. 11 Kentucky saw the steepest fall, dropping four spots after Sunday’s loss to unranked Mississippi State — their second defeat in four games. (See full list)

Charting up: No. 10 Iowa had cause to celebrate, breaking into the Top 10 for the first time since superstar guard Caitlin Clark graduated in 2024.

• The ranking comes on the back of Sunday’s 75-68 win over No. 13 Michigan State, pulling Iowa to 16-2 on the season. (Watch full highlights)

• The Hawkeyes now have their work cut out for them, with games against No. 15 Maryland, No. 12 Ohio State, and No. 3 UCLA slated for the next two weeks.

Up next: Iowa takes on Maryland this Thursday at 6 PM ET, live on NBC.

UConn settles the score against Notre Dame

UConn’s continued dominance is shattering records, as the No. 1 Huskies humbled Notre Dame 85-47 on Monday to keep their perfect season intact.

• UConn’s 38-point margin of victory against the Fighting Irish is the largest in the teams’ 20-year rivalry, with the win also snapping a three-game head-to-head losing streak.

• “UConn showed why they’re the best team in the country,” Irish head coach Niele Ivey said postgame. (Watch full highlights)

Shooting star: Sophomore Sarah Strong made her own history, becoming the third-fastest Husky to reach 1,000 career points behind Maya Moore and Paige Bueckers.

• “I would love to see if anybody has scored a 1,000 points by taking less shots than she’s taking,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “She’s so efficient.”

• “It means a lot to me I guess, but I wouldn’t be able to do it without my teammates,” Strong said after her 18-point, 11-rebound night. (Read more)

Up next: UConn now returns to the Big East, taking on Georgetown this Thursday at 6:30 PM ET, live on TNT.

Rose Lavelle wins US Soccer Player of the Year

Rose Lavelle kicked off 2026 on a high note, as the USWNT and Gotham midfielder won US Soccer’s 2025 Female Player of the Year on Friday.

• Fresh off scoring Gotham’s game-winning goal at the 2025 NWSL Championship, Lavelle earned 29.2% of the weighted vote, followed closely by fellow USWNT stars Sam Coffey (23.9%), and Catarina Macario (22.3%).

• Voters included national team players and coaches, NWSL coaches, and select members of the media.

Big picture: The award caps a bounce-back year, as the 30-year-old returned from a long-term ankle injury in June to tally six regular-season goals for Gotham plus three goals and three assists for the US.

• “I wouldn’t have been in the position to even be up for the award without all of the support I received throughout the year just to get back on the field,” Lavelle said. (See full statement)

Next gen: US Soccer’s Young Female Player of the Year went to Lavelle’s Gotham and USWNT teammate Lilly Reale, with Reale also picking up 2025 NWSL Rookie of the Year.

Top seeds roll at 2026 Australian Open

Tennis’s top stars are rolling in Melbourne, as the Australian Open’s first round wrapped early this morning with only a few ranked seeds seeing early defeats.

• World No. 15 Emma Navarro was the highest-ranked player to fall, losing to No. 50 Magda Linette 6-3, 3-6, 3-6.

• No. 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova also stumbled in the first round, exiting alongside 2020 champion No. 30 Sofia Kenin. (Watch tournament highlights)

Big picture: Many contenders still remain, as the WTA’s entire Top 10 cruised through their opening matchups to advance to the Grand Slam’s second round.

• Fans will miss out on one highly anticipated showdown, as wild card entry Venus Williams’s first-round loss ended the 45-year-old tennis icon’s path to a second-round clash with US favorite No. 3 Coco Gauff.

Tune in: The Australian Open continues tonight at 7 PM ET, live on ESPN.

KC star Temwa Chawinga’s injury timeline remains unclear

The Current delivered concerning news this week, as star striker Temwa Chawinga remains sidelined with an hip adductor injury while 2026 NWSL preseason gets underway.

• The back-to-back NWSL MVP is listed under a season-ending injury designation, after picking up the knock in mid-October and missing Kansas City’s quarterfinal loss to eventual champions Gotham.

• “It’s hard because of the nature of the injury,” incoming coach Chris Armas told The Athletic. “With Temwa, we’ve got to be very careful, but she’s looking great and doing lots of good work on the return to play.”

Stay tuned: Chawinga’s future might be in question, but she’ll have some time to recover, with the Current’s regular-season kicking off on March 14th — and teams allowed to lift a player’s SEI status any time once the season begins.

PWHL sets US attendance record in DC

The PWHL continues to break records in 2026, as 17,228 fans packed Washington DC’s Capital One Arena on Sunday to see New York top Montreal 2-1 — and set a new US women’s hockey attendance record.

• The benchmark surpasses the previous record set last November, when the Seattle Torrent welcomed 16,014 fans to their inaugural home-opener.

• “The energy our fans brought into the arena turned this game into something truly special,” PWHL EVP of business operations Amy Scheer said of the neutral-site Takeover Tour stop. “Moments like this capture the joy of our sport and the momentum behind the league.” (See full statement)

Numbers game: The third-year league is racing through its best-attended month on record, drawing more than 154,000 fans across the last 16 games while averaging 8,726 per game across all 49 games this season.

Number of the day 

30

No. 3 UCLA beat No. 15 Maryland by 30 points on Sunday, with the 97-67 win marking the Bruins’ largest margin of victory over a Top 15 opponent since 1992.