BATON ROUGE — After handily defeating Alabama, 74-58, and holding off a hot Arkansas team, 62-58, the LSU Lady Tigers remained 12th in the latest ESPN/USA Today coaches poll while rising to No. 13 in the Associated Press poll.
With the wins, LSU improved to 17-6 overall and 7-3 in Southeastern Conference play. The Lady Tigers are one of five conference teams ranked.
Tennessee, who LSU faces on Sunday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, led the bunch at No. 2. The Lady Vols followed undefeated Notre Dame for the top spot for the second straight week. Georgia is fifth while Florida sits in ninth.
Defending national champion Connecticut is third and Duke remained No. 4, despite a loss to Florida State on Thursday. Following its loss to Iowa, Purdue fell to seventh, allowing Iowa State to take over the No. 6 spot. Oklahoma rounded out the top 10. The top 10 is the same in both polls.
Vanderbilt is the fifth team representing the SEC, as the Commodores came in at No. 19 and 20 by the coaches and media, respectively.
LSU will face Vanderbilt next as the Lady Tigers travel to Nashville, Tenn., for a Thursday meeting with the Commodores.