Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 18, 1992 TAG: 9202180157
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
VIRGINIA WOMEN REGAIN TOP RANKING
Virginia (23-1) returned to the No. 1 position of The Associated Press women's basketball poll Monday as Maryland's two consecutive losses dropped it to fourth place.The Terrapins (20-3) lost 75-74 to Virginia as the Cavaliers avenged the 67-65 upset handed them by the Terrapins at Charlottesville last month. That enabled Maryland to earn its first No. 1 ranking, while Virginia fell to second and stayed No. 2 until this week.
Maryland lost again 72-55 at Clemson on Saturday.
"I guess we shocked everybody," Maryland coach Chris Weller said. "The problem was we didn't treat the Virginia game as a loss and then we got into trouble at Clemson. Now that we've had a real loss, perhaps we'll learn something."
Texas (15-7) returned at No. 25 after a five week absence, while California dropped out after Pacific-10 losses at Southern Cal and UCLA. But otherwise, it was a stable week, Nos. 5 through 14 were the same this time as last week.
The Cavaliers received 67 first-place votes and 1,746 points, four short of unanimous, from a nationwide panel of 70 women's coaches. Virginia defeated Connecticut 64-43 Monday night after the voting was compiled.
"It doesn't mean anything when you have that ranking right now, especially when you were No. 1 last year and lost the national title by a couple of points," Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said.
Tennessee (20-2), which had been No. 1 early in the season, moved up to second with two first-place votes and 1,672 points. Stephen F. Austin (21-1) moved up a step to third with 1,529 points, eight more than Maryland, which received 1,521 points.
Mississippi (22-1) received the remaining first-place vote and 1,482 points to hold fifth.
Stanford was sixth, followed by Iowa, Miami, Purdue and Vanderbilt.