By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina and N.C. State both fell in the latest AP Top 25 women’s poll after losses last week ahead of Thursday’s big clash in Raleigh.

The short-handed Tar Heels (18–7, 9–5 ACC), who rebounded from a 75–67 Thursday loss at Syracuse to roll past Boston College 73–55 at home Sunday, slipped five spots to No. 19. The Wolfpack (17–8, 7–7) lost 71–59 Sunday at Virginia, its third defeat in the last five meetings, to fall out of the poll after being ranked No. 22 a week ago.

After averaging 14.5 points in UNC’s two games last week, redshirt freshman Kayla McPherson is the ACC rookie of the week. Sunday against BC in her first career start, she scored 22 points and four 3-pointers with six rebounds and three assists. Her honor comes two weeks after teammate Paulina Paris earned the award.

It’s the first time N.C. State, which garnered the 27th-most poll points, has been unranked since Jan. 29, 2018. Carolina is ranked the lowest since being voted No. 22 on Jan. 9.

Carolina and Florida State (20–7, 9–5) had the biggest drops in the poll at five spots. The Seminoles lost road games to Miami (86–82) and Virginia Tech (84–70) and dropped to No. 23. The latter was the fourth consecutive win for the Hokies (20–4, 10–4), who stayed at No. 11.

UNC is No. 23 in the NET rankings and No. 19 in the Massey Ratings.

Carolina just hopes its injury list is reduced for the 8 p.m. Thursday game at Reynolds Coliseum (ACC Network.)

Fifth-year guard Eva Hodgson (upper-body injury) isn’t expected back in the lineup until March, but the Tar Heels hope that junior wing Alyssa Ustby (lower-body injury), who has missed the last three games, and junior center Anya Poole (shoulder) will be back.

Poole missed the win over Boston College, reducing Coach Courtney Banghart’s roster to eight players with redshirt senior reserve guard Ariel Young still out with a knee injury.

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Juniors Kennedy Todd-Williams and Deja Kelly have been big leaders for the team in the last two games as the Tar Heels have been dealing with the short roster and new lineup combinations.

“They love hoops,” Banghart said. “They just show me not to worry. They’ll play with whoever’s in. They’ll help whoever is in. They can’t practice because they are playing so many minutes, and the young guys need practice, but they’re in and out with injuries. We’re figuring it out as we go.”

League-leading Duke (22–3, 12–2) held at No. 9 after beating Boston College 68–27 and Miami 50–40. Notre Dame (20–4, 11–3) stayed at No. 10 after home wins over Pittsburgh (69–63) and Syracuse (73–64).

The three voters who ranked Carolina the highest all live in the Carolinas: Mitchell Northam of WUNC, the only North Carolina-based voter, had the Tar Heels No. 11 while ACC Network’s Kelly Gramlich and television commentator Debbie Antonelli — South Carolina residents — each had them No. 15.

Voting UNC the lowest at No. 25 was Jeff Linder of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, who dropped the Heels 11 spots from where he voted them the previous week.

Other voters had UNC No. 16 (four voters), No. 17 (4), No. 18 (4), No. 19 (3), No. 20 (4), No. 21 (3), No. 22 (1) and No. 24 (1).

AP Top 25

Rank	Team	Change	Poll points
1	South Carolina (25–0)	—	700 (28 first-place votes)
2	Indiana (23–1)	—	670
3	Stanford (24–3)	+3	627
4	Utah (22–2)	+3	574
5	LSU (23–1)	-2	562
6	UConn (22–4)	-2	561
7	Iowa (20–5)	-2	552
8	Maryland (21–5)	—	513
9	Duke (22–3)	—	478
10	Notre Dame (20–4)	—	447
11	Virginia Tech (20–4)	—	427
12	Michigan (20–5)	—	386
13	Ohio State (21–4)	—	354
14	Villanova (22-4)	+1	313
15	Oklahoma (20–4)	+1	288
16	UCLA (20–6)	+2	256
17	Texas (20–6)	+3	243
18	Arizona (19–6)	-1	215
19	North Carolina (18–7)	-5	212
20	Gonzaga (23–3)	+3	187
21	Colorado (20–5)	+4	175
22	Iowa State (15–7)	-1	58
23	UNLV (24–2)	—	52
24	Florida State (20–7)	-5	51
25	USC (19–6)	—	31

Others receiving votes: Illinois 30, N.C. State 30, Middle Tennessee 23, South Florida 19, Oklahoma State 17, Creighton 17, Louisville 11, Rhode Island 6, Florida Gulf Coast 6, Marquette 5, Cleveland State 2, South Dakota State 1, Tennessee 1.

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ACC standings

Team	League	Overall
No. 10 Notre Dame	15–3	24–4
No. 11 Duke	14–4	24–5
No. 9 Virginia Tech	14–4	24–4
No. 23 Florida State	12–6	23–8
Louisville	12–6	21–10
No. 22 North Carolina	11–7	20–9
Miami	11–7	18–11
N.C. State	9–9	19–10
Syracuse	9–9	18–11
Clemson	7–11	16–14
Boston College	5–13	15–16
Wake Forest	5–13	14–15
Virginia	4–14	15–14
Georgia Tech	4–14	13–16
Pittsburgh	3–15	10–19

Thursday’s results
No. 9 Virginia Tech 61, No. 22 North Carolina 59
No. 10 Notre Dame 76, Georgia Tech 53
No. 23 Florida State 61, Wake Forest 60
Syracuse 85, Pittsburgh 55
Louisville 71, Miami 50
Clemson 79, Virginia 69
No. 11 Duke 77, N.C. State 62
Sunday’s results
No. 22 North Carolina 45, No. 11 Duke 41
No. 10 Notre Dame 68, Louisville, noon, ESPN3
Miami 84, Virginia 75
Boston College 73, Wake Forest 63
Clemson 74, No. 23 Florida State 61
N.C. State 68, Pittsburgh at 63
No. 9 Virginia Tech 65, Georgia Tech 52
End of regular season

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Date	Month/day	Time/score	Opponent/event (current ranking)	Location	Record
	November
9	Wednesday	W, 91–59	Jackson State	Home	1–0
12	Saturday	W, 75–48	TCU	Home	2–0
16	Wednesday	W, 93–25	South Carolina State	Home	3–0
20	Sunday	W, 76–65	James Madison	Harrisonburg, Va.	4–0
			Phil Knight Invitational
24	Thursday	W, 85–79	Oregon	Portland	5–0
27	Sunday	W, 73–64	No. 17 Iowa State	Portland	6–0
	December		ACC/Big Ten Challenge
1	Thursday	L, 87–63	No. 2 Indiana	Bloomington, Ind.	6–1
7	Wednesday	W, 64–42	UNCW	Home	7–1
11	Sunday	W, 99–67	Wofford	Home	8–1
16	Friday	W, 89–47	USC Upstate	Home	9–1
			Jumpman Invitational
20	Tuesday	L, 76–68	No. 18 Michigan	Charlotte	9–2
			ACC season begins
29	Thursday	L, 78–71	Florida State	Home	9–3, 0–1 ACC
	January
1	Sunday	L, 68–65	No. 4 Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	9–4, 0–2 ACC
5	Thursday	L, 62–58	Miami	Coral Gables, Fla.	9–5, 0–3 ACC
8	Sunday	W, 60–50	No. 10 Notre Dame	Home	10–5, 1–3 ACC
12	Thursday	W, 70–59	Virginia	Charlottesville, Va.	11–5, 2–3 ACC
15	Sunday	W, 56–47	N.C. State	Home	12–5, 3–3 ACC
19	Thursday	W, 61–56	No. 13 Duke	Home	13–5, 4–3 ACC
22	Sunday	W, 70–57	Georgia Tech	Home	14–5, 5–3 ACC
26	Thursday	W, 72–57	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	15–5, 6–3 ACC
29	Sunday	W, 69–58	Clemson	Clemson	16–5, 7–3 ACC
	February
2	Thursday	W, 73–62	Virginia	Home	17–5, 8–3 ACC
5	Sunday	L, 62–55	Louisville	Louisville	17–6, 8–4 ACC
9	Thursday	L, 75–67	Syracuse	Syracuse	17–7, 8–5 ACC
12	Sunday	W, 73–55	Boston College	Home	18–7, 9–5 ACC
16	Thursday	L, 77–66, OT	N.C. State	Raleigh	18–8, 9–6 ACC
19	Sunday	W, 71–58	Wake Forest	Home	19–8, 10–6 ACC
23	Thursday	L, 61–59	No. 4 Virginia Tech	Home	19–9, 10–7 ACC
26	Sunday	W, 45–41	No. 13 Duke	Durham	20–9, 10–8 ACC
	March		ACC Tournament
2	Thursday	W, 68–58	Clemson	Greensboro	21–9
3	Friday	L, 44–40	No. 13 Duke	Greensboro	21–10
			NCAA tournament
18	Saturday	W, 61–59	St. John’s	Columbus, Ohio	22–10
20	Monday	L, 71–69	No. 12 Ohio State	Columbus, Ohio	22–11

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications