By R.L. Bynum
Carolina jumped four spots to No. 11 in the AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll, thanks to a pair of road victories that extended the Tar Heels’ ACC win streak to seven games and losses by six teams ahead of them in last week’s poll.
The Tar Heels (16–5, 7–3 ACC) try to keep the momentum going on Thursday at 6 o’clock (regional sports networks), when they return home to face Virginia (14–8, 3–8), which they beat 70–59 in Charlottesville, Va., on Jan. 12.
On Sunday, freshman Paulina Paris (top photo) produced season-highs of 22 points, six 3-pointers and five steals in Carolina’s 69–58 win at Clemson.
During UNC’s seven-game win streak, its longest regular-season ACC streak since winning 17 straight from Jan. 5, 2007, until Jan. 16, 2009, it has kept rising in the poll after being ranked a season-low No. 22 on Jan. 2 and Jan. 9. The Tar Heels rose as high as No. 6 on Nov. 3 and Dec. 19.
UNC is only a game behind conference leaders Duke (18–3, 8–2) and Notre Dame (17–3, 8–2) — two teams the Heels beat earlier this season — in the ACC standings.
The Blue Devils stayed at No. 16 after beating Virginia Tech on Thursday 66–55 but getting blown out Sunday at Florida State 70–57. The Irish slipped two spots to No. 9 after blowing out the Seminoles 70–47 but losing Sunday at N.C. State 69–65.
That was the only game last week for the Wolfpack (16–5, 6–4), which moved up five spots to No. 15.
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After losing to the Irish and beating the Blue Devils, Florida State (19–5, 8–3) moved up one spot to No. 23. Virginia Tech, which rebounded from its loss to Duke by beating Virginia 72–60 on Sunday, fell one spot to No. 13.
The Hokies (17–4, 7–4) were one of three teams directly ahead of Carolina in last week’s poll (when it was No. 15) to lose. Oklahoma (16–4) fell from No. 14 to No. 20 after losing to Texas 78–58 and Iowa State 86–78. Michigan (17–5) dropped from No. 13 to No. 18 after losing to Indiana 92–83 and Maryland 72–64.
In addition, UCLA dropped from No. 8 to No. 14 after losses to Colorado (73–70 in overtime) and Utah (71–69).
Ohio State (19–3) suffered the biggest drop of the top 10 teams in last week’s poll, going from No. 2 to No. 10 after losing to Iowa 83–72, Indiana 78–65 and Purdue 73–65 for its first losses of the season.
Ranking Carolina the highest again was WUNC’s Mitchell Northam, the only North Carolina-based voter. He voted the Tar Heels No. 6, one of six voters who had the Tar Heels in the top 10.
M.A. Voepel of ESPN had UNC No. 8. Ben Pickman of The Athletic, Carl Ademec of the Journal Inquirer in Manchester, Conn., and Stefan Krajisnik of the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., voted the Heels No. 9. Broadcaster Debbie Antonelli had them No. 10.
Voting UNC the lowest at No. 16 were Cora Hall of the Knoxville News Sentinel, Danny Davis of the Austin American-Statesman and Lindsay Schnell of USA Today.
Carolina’s NET ranking of 17th is the fifth-highest in the ACC behind Notre Dame (6th), Duke (8th), N.C. State (13th) and Florida State (15th). The Tar Heels have the fourth-highest Massey Rating among ACC teams at 13th, behind Notre Dame (6th), N.C. State (10th) and Duke (12th).
AP Top 25
| Rank | Team | Change | Poll points (1st-place votes) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Carolina (21–0) | — | 700 (28) |
| 2 | Stanford (21–2) | +1 | 635 |
| 3 | LSU (20–0) | +1 | 628 |
| 4 | Indiana (20–1) | +2 | 627 |
| 5 | UConn (20–2) | — | 623 |
| 6 | Iowa (17–4) | +4 | 522 |
| 7 | Utah (18–2) | +2 | 520 |
| 8 | Maryland (17–4) | +2 | 492 |
| 9 | Notre Dame (17–3) | -2 | 480 |
| 10 | Ohio State (19–3) | -8 | 443 |
| 11 | North Carolina (16–5) | +4 | 399 |
| 12 | Iowa State (15–4) | +6 | 345 |
| 13 | Virginia Tech (17–4) | -1 | 317 |
| 14 | UCLA (17–5) | -6 | 310 |
| 15 | N.C. State (16–5) | +5 | 291 |
| 16 | Duke (18–3) | — | 279 |
| 17 | Gonzaga (21–2) | — | 270 |
| 18 | Michigan (17–5) | -5 | 266 |
| 19 | Villanova (18–4) | +2 | 171 |
| 20 | Oklahoma (16–4) | -6 | 151 |
| 21 | Middle Tennessee (18–2) | +2 | 119 |
| 22 | Arizona (16–5) | -3 | 114 |
| 23 | Florida State (19–5) | +1 | 113 |
| 24 | Texas (16–6) | — | 94 |
| 25 | South Florida (20–4) | — | 52 |
Others receiving votes: Illinois 45, Colorado 40, USC 17, Tennessee 13, Purdue 12, UNLV 9, Baylor 1, Columbia 1, Oregon 1.
UNC statistics
| Team | League | Overall | NET* | WAB* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 13 Duke | 16–2 | 21–8 | 10 | 13 |
| No. 12 Louisville | 15–3 | 25–6 | 13 | 10 |
| No. 16 North Carolina | 14–4 | 25–6 | 19 | 14 |
| N.C. State | 13–5 | 20–9 | 23 | 27 |
| Syracuse | 12–6 | 22–7 | 40 | 31 |
| Virginia Tech | 12–6 | 22–8 | 41 | 34 |
| Notre Dame | 12–6 | 20–9 | 24 | 23 |
| Clemson | 11–7 | 20–10 | 44 | 40 |
| Virginia | 11–7 | 19–10 | 36 | 49 |
| California | 9–9 | 18–13 | 53 | 60 |
| Stanford | 8–10 | 19–12 | 42 | 56 |
| Miami | 8–10 | 16–13 | 58 | 65 |
| Georgia Tech | 7–10 | 12–17 | 76 | 109 |
| Florida State | 5–13 | 10–20 | 107 | 138 |
| Wake Forest | 4–14 | 14–16 | 121 | 134 |
| SMU | 2–16 | 9–21 | 220 | 209 |
| Pittsburgh | 1–17 | 8–23 | 262 | 238 |
| Boston College | 1–17 | 5–26 | 247 | 283 |
* — Through Sunday games
Thursday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 82, Virginia 70
No. 12 Louisville 69, Georgia Tech 50
Notre Dame 72, Syracuse 62
Miami 79, Pittsburgh 58
N.C. State 65, Wake Forest 58
No. 13 Duke 80, Florida State 52
Stanford 87, SMU 57
Clemson 70, California 63
Sunday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 74, No. 13 Duke 69
Virginia Tech 83, Virginia 82
Georgia Tech 79, Miami 49
N.C. State 93, Pittsburgh 43
Stanford 85, Clemson 50
Syracuse 90, Boston College 65
Notre Dame 65, No. 12 Louisville 62
Florida State 77, Wake Forest 74, OT
California 78, SMU 34
End of regular season
ACC tournament
Gas South Arena
Duluth, Ga.
March 4–8
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications
