By The Associated Press

Baylor’s grip on No. 1 is becoming looser as Connecticut closes the gap.

The Lady Bears received 23 first-place votes Monday in the women’s college basketball poll by The Associated Press. No. 2 Connecticut gained two first-place votes from last week.

The Huskies had two impressive victories, routing then-No. 3 Duke by 36 points and No. 9 DePaul by 23 points. UConn has 16 first-place votes and plays at No. 17 West Virginia on Tuesday.

Baylor had two big wins of its own this week, blowing out No. 13 Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

Stanford, Tennessee and Duke round out the first five.

Penn State and Marist joined the poll at No. 23 and 25. Marist has won 17 in a row. Iowa and Georgia Tech fell from the rankings.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

The Women’s Top Twenty Five
By The Associated Press
The top 25 teams in the The Associated Press’ women’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 6, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:
Record   Pts Pvs
1. Baylor (23)           21-1    981   1
2. Connecticut (16)      22-1    973   2
3. Stanford (1)          20-2    914   4
4. Tennessee             21-2    871   5
5. Duke                  21-1    825   3
6. Texas A&M             19-2    815   6
7. Xavier                19-2    763   7
8. Notre Dame            20-4    719   8
9. UCLA                  19-2    666  10
10. DePaul                21-3    614   9
11. Michigan St.          29-3    565  11
12. Maryland              20-3    562  12
13. North Carolina        20-3    510  15
14. Oklahoma              17-5    472  13
15. Kentucky              18-4    442  16
16. Georgetown            19-5    403  17
17. West Virginia         20-4    325  14
18. Wis.-Green Bay        22-1    296  21
19. Florida St.           18-5    273  19
20. Miami                 20-3    267  18
21. Marquette             19-4    173  23
22. Iowa St.              16-6    150  22
23. Penn St.              20-5    121   _
24. Georgia               18-5    107  24
25. Marist                21-2     47   _

Others receiving votes: Iowa 39, Georgia Tech 35, Gonzaga 20, Houston 18, Boston College 8, Louisiana Tech 8, Temple 8, Ohio St. 5, Kansas St. 3, Duquesne 1, Princeton 1.

Ballots Online: http://tinyurl.com/ykagzmr

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)