By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina fell three spots to No. 22 in the AP Top 25 women’s poll heading into a challenging week that could go a long way toward determining if the Tar Heels will be first- and second-round hosts in the NCAA tournament.

UNC (19–8, 10–6 ACC) rebounded from Thursday’s 77–66 overtime loss at N.C. State with a convincing 71–58 home win Sunday over Wake Forest, led by Deja Kelly’s 24 points. The Tar Heels face No. 9 Virginia Tech at home at 8 p.m. Thursday (regional sports networks) and visit No. 11 Duke at noon Sunday (regional sports networks).

The Hokies (22–4, 12–4) have won six in a row and moved up two spots after beating Duke 61–45 on Thursday and finishing a regular-season sweep of N.C. State with a 75–62 home win Sunday.

The Blue Devils (23–4, 13–3), who share the ACC lead with No. 10 Notre Dame (22–4, 13–3), rebounded from losing to Virginia Tech with a 56–52 win Sunday at Virginia but fell two spots. The Irish’s rank didn’t change after beating Louisville 78–76 and Pittsburgh 83–43.

No. 22 ties for UNC’s lowest ranking of the season. The Tar Heels were also ranked No. 22 for two consecutive weeks, on Jan. 2 and Jan. 9.

Before Carolina’s win over the Deacons, ESPN projected the Tar Heels to be a No. 5 seed, and only top-four seeds are hosts for the first two rounds. Carolina is 25th in the NET rankings and 21st in the Massey Ratings.

Even if Carolina wins both games, it won’t earn a double bye in the ACC tournament. No women’s team without a double bye has won the title in the event’s history.

Carolina hopes junior wing Alyssa Ustby (lower-body injury) returns to the lineup. UNC coach Courtney Banghart said that Ustby remains “day-to-day.” She has missed the last five games. Fifth-year guard Eva Hodgson (upper-body injury) has missed the last eight games but isn’t expected back until next month.

Banghart called a matchup like Thursday’s senior night game with the Hokies “awesome.”

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“We know them really well. They know us really well. It’s been one of the very best rivalries in the ACC since the years I’ve been here,” said Banghart, pointing out that her games against Virginia Tech have usually been close. “Our games are always very intense with them. I know our guys are ready for it and excited about it.”

The Tar Heels will seek to avenge a 68–65 New Year’s Day loss in Blacksburg when Georgia Amoore scored 24 points and six 3-pointers. Virginia Tech has won seven of the last nine meetings, but UNC rolled to a 71–46 win in Chapel Hill last season.

“They’ve got a lot of different things that they do well, just like we do,” Banghart said. “And that’s why these are two of the better programs, not only in our conference, but in the nation. We know that it’s a big week. And you’d rather be in big games than talking about them.”

On Sunday, Carolina will seek its second consecutive regular-season sweep of the Blue Devils. The Tar Heels held on for a 61–56 win in Carmichael Arena on Jan. 19.

The only other ranked ACC team is Florida State (22–7, 11–5), which moved up one spot to No. 23 after beating Syracuse 78–65 and Georgia Tech 80–66.

Ranking UNC the highest at No. 15 is Mitchell Northam of WUNC, the only North Carolina-based voter. He also was the only voter who had Indiana No. 1.

Nine voters left the Tar Heels off their ballots: Brice Cherry of the Waco Tribune-Herald, Danny Davis of the Austin American-Stateman, Davis Cloniner of The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C., Jeff Linder of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Joe Vozelli of the Champaign News-Gazette, Kevin Trsolini of delawareonline.com, Lindsay Schnell of USA Today, M.A. Voepel of ESPN and Robert Cessna of the Bryan-College Station Eagle.

Other voters had Carolina No. 17 (Debbie Antonelli), No. 18 (Michelle Smith), No. 20 (4), No. 21 (5), No. 22 (4), No. 23 (1), No. 24 (1) and No. 25 (1).

AP Top 25

Rank	Team	Change	Poll points (1st-place votes0
1	South Carolina (27–0)	—	699 (27)
2	Indiana (26–1)	—	672 (1)
3	Stanford (25–3)	—	634
4	UConn (24–4)	+2	585
5	LSU (25–1)	—	573
6	Iowa (22–5)	+1	567
7	Maryland (22–5)	+1	522
8	Utah (23–3)	-4	507
9	Virginia Tech (22–4)	+2	488
10	Notre Dame (22–4)	—	464
11	Duke (23–4)	-2	416
12	Michigan (20–6)	—	340
13	Oklahoma (22–4)	+2	336
14	Arizona (21–6)	+4	322
15	Villanova (23–5)	-1	296
16	Ohio State (22–5)	-3	291
17	UCLA (21–6)	-1	279
18	Gonzaga (25–3)	+2	206
19	Texas (21–7)	-2	186
20	Iowa State (17–7)	+2	167
21	Colorado (21–6)	—	113
22	North Carolina (19–8)	-3	100
23	Florida State (22–7)	+1	96
24	UNLV (25–2)	-1	78
25	Illinois (20–7)	—	29

Others receiving votes:

Middle Tennessee 29, South Florida 25, Oklahoma State 18, Creighton 14, North Carolina State 13, Florida Gulf Coast 7, Louisville 7, Tennessee 7, Marquette 3, Cleveland State 3, South Dakota State 2, Toledo 1, USC 1, Columbia 1, Illinois State 1, UMass 1, Ole Miss 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