The road to Tampa: Women's basketball update, Week 8

Upsets continue to shake up the rankings and conference standings across the country as the women's college basketball season wears on; a pair of top-five powerhouses fell this week:

Two top-five upsets stole headlines this week. The first came Thursday night in Coral Gables, Fla., where Miami stunned No. 4 Notre Dame 78-63 to hand the Fighting Irish their first loss in ACC play in two seasons and end the team's 30-game road winning streak. Adrienne Motley scored 32 points and Jassany Williams added nine blocks for the Hurricanes, who shot 52.7 percent from the field and held Notre Dame to 1-of-12 shooting from 3-point range. Despite 27 points from star Jewell Loyd, the Fighting Irish lost their second game of the season.

Although Miami's upset was a big win, Iowa State's upset of previously unbeaten and No. 3 Texas Saturday was a bit more dramatic. The Cyclones overcame an 18-point deficit and got a go-ahead layup from Seanna Johnson after using a 38-13 run to overcome a 37-19 deficit late in the first half. Despite scoring one basket the final 8:10, Iowa State pulled off the shocking upset and held the Longhorns to 32.4 percent shooting for the game. Texas owns impressive wins against Texas A&M, Stanford and Tennessee, and will likely still have a shot to compete with No. 5 Baylor in the Big 12 as long is it avoids any more upsets.

Speaking of the Volunteers and Aggies, the top-10 teams met Thursday in Knoxville, Tenn., but No. 7 Tennessee took the drama out of the contest by building a 16-point halftime lead and eventually prevailing 81-58 to earn its ninth straight win after dropping two of its first six games. No. 9 Texas A&M is known for a strong defense, but allowed the Volunteers to shoot 52.4 percent and did not have much support for star guard Courtney Walker, who scored 25 points but could not prevent her team from falling for the third time this season.

In another matchup of top-10 teams, No. 1 South Carolina overcame a three-point halftime deficit against No. 10 Kentucky Sunday by holding the Wildcats to just 22 second-half points en route to a 68-60 victory. Tiffany Mitchell led the way for South Carolina, as the reigning SEC Player of the Year scored 13 of her 19 points in the second half.

The SEC was not immune to upsets, though, as Vanderbilt knocked No. 14 Mississippi State from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 78-62 victory Sunday. The Commodores shot 62.9 percent from the field and held the Bulldogs to just 32.8 percent shooting to pull off the upset. The top-ranked Gamecocks and Princeton are now the only unbeaten teans in women's college basketball.

In addition to Notre Dame going down in the ACC, two other traditional powers fell, with No. 8 North Carolina getting routed Thursday 84-59 at home by Pittsburgh and No. 13 Duke falling at Florida State 74-58 Sunday. The Panther trio of Monica Wignot, Stasha Carey and Brianna Kiesel combined for 57 points as Pittsburgh controlled every major aspect of the game to hand the Tar Heels their second loss of the season. The Seminoles' upset of the Blue Devils was less dominant, but Florida State used a late 12-1 run to grab control and pull off the upset at home and hand Duke its first conference loss also.

The shocking events of the week mean Duke, North Carolina and Notre Dame are looking up at No. 6 Louisville in the ACC standings, with the Tar Heels and Fighting Irish slated to do battle Thursday night.