Nell Fortner was surprised to hear it.

“I didn’t know that,” she said.

When the AP Women’s College Basketball Top 25 was released Monday and Fortner’s Auburn Tigers found themselves ranked No. 10, it was the first time they had been ranked that high in nearly nine years.

“We’re excited about it,” the fifth-year Auburn women’s head coach said. “The kids are excited. This is what we all work for, to win ballgames and be the best team we can be.”

And, for Auburn (10-0), it had been quite a while since the Tigers had found themselves in such select company.

Since Jan. 17, 2000, in fact.

“We do understand it’s not like the rankings win games for you, but it’s a nice reward for the players,” Fortner said. “The staff has been here five years now and it’s a nice reward for the program.

“You can either be in the rankings or not in the rankings. I’d much rather be in them.”

The Tigers were also the highest ranked Southeastern Conference team, just edging out No. 11 Tennessee, which lost Sunday at Texas. Vanderbilt came in at No. 19 and Florida was ranked 20th.

Mississippi State received one vote.

And with the hot start, Fortner believes Auburn is ready to take on the league.

“I really think we’re doing everything we can to get ready for conference play,” she said. “We’re 10-0 right now and we’ve been on the road a lot, been challenged a lot and we’ve stepped up to the plate and answered the bell.

“We’ve continually gotten better. We’ll go on the road at George Washington next Friday and that’ll be a tremendous challenge for us.”

Last season Auburn started 9-0 and climbed to No. 14 in the rankings before falling out of the Top 25 altogether by the start of February.

AU finished the season 20-12 after losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to George Washington.

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