In a college basketball season marked with parity, South Carolina's continued dominance stands out. 

The No. 1-ranked Gamecocks ran past perennial powerhouse UConn on Feb. 11, 83-65, in their fourth win over an opponent currently appearing in the Women's Associated Press Top 25 poll. South Carolina also boasts wins over Notre Dame, No. 16 as of Feb. 12; Utah, checking in presently at No. 22; and a Southeastern Conference win over reigning national champion LSU, the nation's No. 13-ranked team. 

"I'm sure it's not fun for the visiting team"

The CLA has become the hardest place to play women's basketball in the country. Today's dominant win for South Carolina over UConn just the latest example.@tehinapaopa0 says it's why she came to Columbia@GamecockWBB | @wachfox pic.twitter.com/yTokMA5s4n

— Matt Vereen (@MattVereen) February 11, 2024

Never mind that South Carolina remains the country's sole undefeated team; the Gamecocks are one of only two teams appearing in the poll with fewer than three losses. The other is No. 17-ranked Gonzaga. 

Meanwhile, the only squad close to matching South Carolina's unblemished mark thus far is Fairfield out of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. At 21-1, Fairfield is knocking on the door of a historic entry into the Top 25. 

The Stags extended the nation's second-longest winning streak to 19 games with a 52-46 defeat of Saint Peter's last Saturday, a game that Fairfield coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis said her team will "take the win and learn from it." 

Fairfield's 19-game streak beats Gonzaga by a game. The Bulldogs picked up their 18th consecutive on Feb. 10 with a 71-47 romp over Loyola Marymount. 

Incredibly, Gonzaga heads into Presidents Day Weekend having held its last three opponents to 47 points or fewer — including Pacific to just 39 in a 65-point blowout. 

The next-longest winning streak belongs to Creighton, which moved its run to 10 in a row last week with 31 and 29-point blowouts of Xavier and DePaul. The Bluejays travel to St. John's on Friday, streaming here on FloHoops.com, before drawing UConn in a holiday matinee on Monday. 

That so many teams with NCAA Tournament aspirations, if not Final Four potential have taken a few losses speaks to the all-around strength of the game across the nation. No. 4-ranked Iowa may have one of the greatest players of all-time in Caitlin Clark, for example — one can debate where in basketball annals she ranks, but there's no debating she'll leave as the greatest scorer ever — but that doesn't mean the Hawkeyes are invulnerable. 

Nebraska handed Iowa its second Big Ten Conference loss in an 82-79 thriller, opening the door for the league's other team that stopped Iowa — Ohio State — to ascend to No. 2. 

The Buckeyes are winners of 11 straight over a stretch that includes both the victory over Iowa and a 74-69 defeat of current No. 14 Indiana. Ohio State's rallied nicely since some setbacks in the first month of the campaign, two of which came against the present No. 9 and No. 10, UCLA and Southern California. 

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Ohio State faces the same Nebraska bunch that beat Iowa on Valentine's Day, a potential roadblock in the Buckeyes' pursuit of the Big Ten regular-season championship. They'll try to avoid the curse that has been reaching No. 2 in the poll, a position that's been a veritable revolving door since the calendar turned to 2024. 

Since Jan. 8, Ohio State is the fourth different second-ranked team. No No. 2 has held that position in consecutive polls over the stretch.

• Iowa (Feb. 5) 
• Kansas State (Jan. 29) 
• UCLA (Jan. 22) 
• Iowa (Jan. 15) 
• UCLA (Jan. 8)

As No. 2 continues to be an unenviable spot while No. 1 racks up more wins, the question looms: Will anyone be able to stop South Carolina in its pursuit of a second national championship in three seasons?

Feb. 12 Women's AP Top 25

1. South Carolina

Record: 23-0 

Previous; No. 1 

2. Ohio State

Record: 21-3

Previous: No. 5

3. Stanford

Record: 22-3

Previous: No. 6

4. Iowa

Record: 22-3

Previous: No. 2

5. Texas

Record: 22-3

Previous: No. 7

6. North Carolina State

Record: 21-3

Previous: No. 3

7. Kansas State

Record: 21-3

Previous: No. 8

8. Colorado

Record: 20-4

Previous: No. 4

9. UCLA

Record: 19-4

Previous: No. 9

10. USC

Record: 17-4

Previous: No. 10

11. Oregon State

Record: 20-3

Previous: No. 7

12. Virginia Tech

Record: 20-4

Previous: No. 16

13. LSU

Record: 21-4

Previous: No. 13 

14. Indiana

Record: 20-3

Previous: No. 14

15. UConn 

Record: 20-5

Previous: No. 11

16. Notre Dame

Record: 18-5

Previous: No. 12

17. Gonzaga

Record: 24-2

Previous: No. 19

18. Louisville

Record: 20-5

Previous: No. 15

19. Syracuse

Record: 20-4

Previous: No. 23

20. Creighton

Record: 20-3

Previous: No. 21

21. Baylor

Record: 18-5

Previous: No. 18

22. Utah 

Record: 18-7

Previous: No. 20

23. Oklahoma

Record: 17-6

Previous: No. 24

24. West Virginia

Record: 20-3

Previous: No. 22

25. Princeton

Record: 18-3

Previous: No. 25