The University of Kentucky women's basketball team achieved its highest-ever known ranking in the national coaches' poll Tuesday when it moved up to No. 5.

The Wildcats, No. 6 last week, overtook Duke to join a top five that also includes No. 1 Baylor, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Connecticut and No. 4 Stanford.

According to UK's media guide, the Cats had never been ranked higher than No. 9 in the coaches' poll prior to this season.

Kentucky is ranked No. 6 in this week's Associated Press Top 25. The only time UK received a better AP ranking was during the 1982-83 season when it rose as high as No. 4.

Kentucky (20-2) received 642 points in this week's coaches' poll. No. 1 Baylor, which received all 31 first-place votes, had 775 points.

Kentucky returns to action Thursday at 7 p.m. against Mississippi in Memorial Coliseum.

USA TODAY/ESPN WOMEN'S TOP 25 POLL

The top 25 teams in the USA Today-ESPN women's college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Jan. 30, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last weeks ranking:

Record Pts Pvs

1. Baylor (31) 21-0 775 1

2. Notre Dame 21-1 742 2

3. UConn 20-2 712 3

4. Stanford 18-1 684 4

5. Kentucky 20-2 642 6

6. Duke 17-3 621 5

7. Miami 19-3 588 8

8. Tennessee 16-5 528 9

9. Green Bay 19-0 501 9

10. Maryland 18-3 493 7

11. Ohio State 20-2 454 9

12. Louisville 17-4 441 14

13. Delaware 18-1 382 16

14. Rutgers 17-4 372 12

15. Georgetown 17-5 338 18

16. Texas A&M 14-5 333 13

17. Purdue 18-4 244 17

18. Nebraska 18-3 226 21

19. Gonzaga 19-3 219 20

20. Georgia 16-6 182 15

21. Penn State 16-5 154 19

22. Georgia Tech 16-6 104 24

23. DePaul 16-6 86 22

24. North Carolina 16-5 53 25

25. Kansas 16-4 45 —

Others receiving votes: Texas Tech 30, Vanderbilt 23, St. Bonaventure 19, Middle Tennessee 15, Florida Gulf Coast 14, South Carolina 13, California 12, BYU 8, Michigan State 6, Princeton 3, UTEP 3, UNLV 3, Fresno State 2, Kansas State 2, St. John's 2, South Florida 1.