South Carolina's women's basketball team went into this season as the heavy favorites to win the NCAA tournament this year. So far, they have proven to everyone they are still the team opponents will have to go through if teams want to get their hands on the trophy.

After beating No. 17 Maryland 81-56, the Gamecocks have won 15 straight games versus ranked opponents. Their last loss was to the Stanford Cardinal in the Final Four in 2021, according to ESPN's Stats & Info database. It is worth noting the Terrapins were without projected WNBA lottery pick Diamond Miller, who is day-to-day with a knee injury. It is the same knee she had surgery on this past summer.

South Carolina has its eyes on being the last one's standing in March Madness but isn't letting itself think too far ahead this early in the year.

“I keep telling them, ‘Do not take because we won for granted. Really hone into why we won, how we won and the things and the journey it took for us to win,'” head coach Dawn Staley told ESPN.

Staley's players are all bought in and shared a similar sentiment to their coach.

“[Dawn Staley] was just telling us that she doesn't want us to look too far ahead,” senior guard Zia Cooke told ESPN. “She wants us to know, ‘Yes, we did win a national championship,' but she doesn't want us to think that it's going to be handed to us again.”

“How could you focus on something that's literally months away?” she said. “If you are focused on something that's not in the present, it's like you're not focusing. You're not really keeping the main thing the main thing, which is what's in front of you.”

The Gamecocks next test versus a ranked opponent will be against No. 2 Stanford, the last ranked team they lost to, next Thursday.