Women’s Power Rankings: UConn returns to top five, Iowa falls

South Carolina stays firmly planted at No. 1, UCLA jumps to No. 2 and the sports world is celebrating the greatness and longevity of Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer. But keep an eye on UConn, as the Huskies are steadily climbing in ESPN’s women’s college basketball Power Rankings.

The Huskies are 8-0 in the Big East and have won 12 games in a row overall. Admittedly, their Big East games have been snooze fests, but that’s not UConn’s fault. The Huskies are used to dominating conference play, whether in the “old” Big East, the American (where they literally never lost) or in the “new” Big East.

We have watched many times how the Huskies improve when their competition is challenging. Could this week bring a challenge? Possibly, as UConn travels to Marquette on Tuesday and then hosts Notre Dame on Saturday.

The Huskies clobbered Marquette 95-64 on New Year’s Eve at the XL Center in Hartford. The Golden Eagles are 4-3 in the Big East and coming off a 66-63 loss at Villanova on Wednesday. But Marquette went 11-0 in nonconference play and at least this time will have the home-court advantage against the Huskies. We’ll see if it means anything.

As for the Irish, they are back in the Power Rankings this week; their only ACC losses are to the two teams atop the league: North Carolina and Syracuse. It will be intriguing to see two outstanding guards at different stages of their college careers. UConn’s Paige Bueckers is having a terrific junior season while coming back from a knee injury, and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo is one of the most exciting players in a thrilling freshman class.

The Huskies’ losses were to NC State and Texas on the road, and to UCLA at a neutral site. Looking at the remainder of their schedule, they are favored in every game but one: Feb. 11 at South Carolina. So this week could rock the Huskies’ boat a little — or be two more big steps toward a highly anticipated matchup with the Gamecocks.

The junior forward’s profile has been rising all season, and she had a career-high 36 points, along with 12 rebounds, Sunday against Oregon State. That included her first made 3-pointers of the season. With Cameron Brink out with an injury, there was even more on Iriafen’s shoulders as the Cardinal didn’t want to miss out on celebrating VanDerveer’s NCAA record-breaking victory at home at Maples Pavilion.

Iriafen made sure the party happened. She has led the Cardinal in scoring the past five games, including 21 points and 15 rebounds Friday against Oregon.

The Lobos got two big Mountain West wins, handing both UNLV and Wyoming their first conference losses of the season. New Mexico topped the Cowgirls 68-61 Wednesday. Then they snapped UNLV’s 29-game winning streak against conference…