By R.L. Bynum

With a share of the ACC lead, North Carolina also is moving up in the AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll.

The Tar Heels (14–5, 6–1 ACC) jumped three spots to No. 20 in the poll released Monday afternoon after winning 73–68 at Georgia Tech on Thursday, then earning a 79–68 home win Sunday over Louisville (16–3, 5–1) for the Cardinals’ first league loss.

Louisville fell five spots to No. 18.

UNC — 30th in the NET rankings (which projects to a No. 7 seed) and 21st in the Massey Ratings — shares first place with two teams it has already beaten in their only regular-season meetings: Louisville and Syracuse (16–2, 6–1), which lost to UNC in Chapel Hill 75–51 on Jan. 4.

Carolina is one of only four schools (and the only ACC school) ranked in both the men’s and women’s poll, with the second-best average rank (No. 3 men and No. 20 women) of 11.5, behind only UConn (No. 1 men and No. 9 women) at No. 5. Baylor (No. 15 men and No. 13 women) averages at No. 14 and Creighton (No. 17 men, No. 21 women) averages at 19.

Voting the Tar Heels the highest at No. 10 was Mitchell Northam of WUNC, the only North Carolina-based voter. Three voters — Danny Davis of the Austin American-Stateman, Kelly Gramlich of ACC Network and Kent Youngblood of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune — voted the Tar Heels No. 13.

Two voters — Emily Adams of The Greenville News in South Carolina and Percy Allen of the Seattle Times — left Carolina off their ballots.

Three other ranked ACC teams lost last week:

— N.C. State (16–2, 4–2) dropped three spots to No. 7 after losing 73–59 to Miami.
— Virginia Tech (14–4, 5–2) slipped five notches to No. 19 after a 63–46 loss at Duke.
— Florida State (14–6, 5–3) plummeted eight spots to No. 23 after losing to Syracuse 79–73 and Virginia 91–87.

The only other ACC team ranked in last week’s poll to win both games last week was Notre Dame (14–3, 5–2), which moved up four spots to No. 15 after beating Virginia 86–76 and Wake Forest 75–56.

Syracuse returned to the poll at No. 22 after the win over the Seminoles and also defeating Pittsburgh 72–59.

Four of the top six teams lost:
— Iowa (18–2) lost Sunday to Ohio State 100–92 in overtime and dropped three spots to No. 5.
— Colorado (16–2) stayed at No. 3 after losing 76–68 to UCLA (15–1), which moved up three spots to No. 2.
— Southern Cal (13–3) dropped five spots to No. 11 after losing to Utah 78–58 and Colorado 63–59.

The only other teams ranked in last week’s poll both fell out of the poll after losses. Marquette (15–3), previously No. 22, lost 66–63 to Villanova and Iowa State, previously No. 24, lost 71–63 to Texas Tech.

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AP Top 25

Rank	Team (1st-place votes)	Record	Poll points	Previous
1	South Carolina (35)	17–0	875	1
2	UCLA	15–1	833	5
3	Colorado	16–2	763	3
4	Kansas State	18–1	753	7
5	Iowa	18–2	729	2
6	Stanford	17–2	695	8
7	N.C. State	16–2	646	4
8	UConn	16–3	635	9
9	LSU	18–2	575	10
10	Texas	18–2	553	11
11	Southern Cal	13–3	515	6
12	Ohio State	15–3	493	18
13	Baylor	15–2	480	12
14	Indiana	16–2	396	16
15	Notre Dame	14–3	331	19
16	Utah	13–5	328	20
17	Gonzaga	18–2	320	17
18	Louisville	16–3	315	13
19	Virginia Tech	14–4	272	14
20	North Carolina	14–5	243	23
21	Creighton	14–3	169	21
22	Syracuse	16–2	131	NR
23	Florida State	14–6	104	15
24	West Virginia	16–2	78	NR
25	Oregon State	15–3	43	NR

Others receiving votes: Marquette 37, Princeton 21, Iowa St. 14, UNLV 12, Fairfield 8, Washington St 3, Miami 2, Green Bay 1, Richmond 1, Virginia 1.

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Where voters had Carolina

Alex Simon, SF Gate — 20
Alexis Cubit, Louisville Courier-Journal — 20
Brenda VanLengen, ESPN — 19
Carl Adamec, Hearst CT Media — 19
Cassandra Negley, Yahoo — 19
Christy Winters Scott NBC — 19
Cora Hall, Knoxville News Sentinel — 19
Danny Davis, Austin American-Statesman — 13
Emily Adams, The Greenville News — left off ballot
Jeff Linder, Cedar Rapids Gazette — 19 (left UNC off ballot last week)
Joe Vozzelli, The News-Gazette in Champaign, Ill. — 19
Kelly Gramlich, ACC Network — 13
Kent Youngblood, Minneapolis Star-Tribune — 13
Kevin Tresolini, Delawareonline.com — 18
Kim Adams, Fox Sports — 18
Lindsay Schnell, USA Today — 14
Michael Voepel, ESPN — 14
Marisa Ingemi, San Francisco Chronicle — 20
Mark Story, Lexington Herald-Leader — 20
Meghan McKeown, Big Ten Network — 20
Michael Katz, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal — 19 (left UNC off ballot last week)
Michelle Smith, The Next — 19 (left UNC off ballot last week)
Mitchell Northam, WUNC — 10
Payton Titus, The State — 22
Percy Allen, Seattle Times — left off ballot
P.J. Brown, Arizona Daily Star — 22 (left UNC off ballot last week)
Rebecca Lobo, ESPN — 20
Reed Darcey, The Advocate in Baton Rouge, La. — 20
Robert Cessna, Bryan-College Station Eagle — 22
Roger Cleaveland, Waterbury Republican-American — 17 (left UNC off ballot last week)
Sabreena Merchant, The Athletic — 17
Sam McKewon, Omaha World-Herald — 22
Stefan Krajisnik, Clarion-Leader in Jackson, Miss. — 23
Stu Durando, St. Louis Post-Dispatch — 21 (left UNC off ballot last week)
Zack Smith, Waco Tribune — 22 (left UNC off ballot last week)

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UNC season statistics

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ACC standings

Team	League	Overall
No. 11 Virginia Tech	14–4	23–6
No. 10 N.C. State	13–5	25–5
No. 20 Syracuse	13–5	23–6
No. 14 Notre Dame	13–5	23–6
No. 24 Louisville	12–6	23–8
Florida State	12–6	21–9
Duke	11–7	19–10
North Carolina	11–7	19–11
Miami	8–10	18–11
Georgia Tech	7–11	16–14
Virginia	7–11	15–14
Boston College	5–13	13–18
Clemson	5–13	12–18
Pittsburgh	2–16	8–23
Wake Forest	2–16	6–24

Sunday’s games
North Carolina 63, Duke 59
Boston College 84, Pittsburgh 58
No. 10 N.C. State 75, Wake Forest 57
No. 14 Notre Dame 74, No. 24 Louisville 58
Georgia Tech 71, Miami 66, OT
Florida State 82, Clemson 79
Virginia 80, No. 11 Virginia Tech 75
ACC tournament
Greensboro Coliseum
Wednesday-Sunday

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Date	Day/month	Score	Opponent/event (current rank)	Record
	November
8	Wednesday	W, 102–49	vs. Gardner-Webb	1–0
12	Sunday	W, 74–70	vs. Davidson	2–0
15	Wednesday	W, 62–32	vs. Hampton	3–0
18	Saturday	W, 68–39	vs. Elon	4–0
			Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla.
24	Friday	W, 54–51	Vermont	5–0
25	Saturday	L, 63–56	No. 15 Kansas State	5–1
26	Sunday	L, 65–64	Florida Gulf Coast	5–2
			ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge
30	Thursday	L, 65–58	vs. No. 1 South Carolina	5–3
	December
6	Wednesday	W, 81–66	vs. UNC Greensboro	6–3
			Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase in Uncasville, Conn.
10	Sunday	L, 76–64	No. 10 Connecticut	6–4
			———————
15	Friday	W, 96–36	vs. Western Carolina	7–4
			Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte
19	Tuesday	W, 61–52	No. 18 Oklahoma	8–4
			ACC season
31	Sunday	W, 82–76	vs. Clemson	9–4, 1–0 ACC
	January
4	Thursday	W, 75–51	vs. No. 22 Syracuse	10–4, 2–0 ACC
7	Sunday	W, 61–57	at No. 9 Notre Dame	11–4, 3–0 ACC
11	Thursday	L, 70–62	at Florida State	11–5, 3–1 ACC
14	Sunday	W, 81–68	vs. Virginia	12–5, 4–1 ACC
18	Thursday	W, 73–68	at Georgia Tech	13–5, 5–1 ACC
21	Sunday	W, 79–68	vs. No. 23 Louisville	14–5, 6–1 ACC
25	Thursday	W, 66–61	vs. Miami	15–5, 7–1 ACC
28	Sunday	L, 81–66	at Virginia	15–6, 7–2 ACC
	February
1	Thursday	L, 63–59	at No. 11 N.C. State	15–7, 7–3 ACC
4	Sunday	L, 70–61, OT	vs. No. 13 Virginia Tech	15–8, 7–4 ACC
11	Sunday	L, 68–60, OT	at Duke	15–9, 7–5 ACC
15	Thursday	W, 75–62	vs. Pittsburgh	16–9, 8–5 ACC
18	Sunday	W, 58–50	at Wake Forest	17–9, 9–5 ACC
22	Thursday	W, 80–70	vs. No. 11 N.C. State	18–9, 10–5 ACC
25	Sunday	L, 74–62	at No. 13 Virginia Tech	18–10, 10–6 ACC
29	Thursday	L, 78–74	at Boston College	18–11, 10–7 ACC
	March
3	Sunday	W, 63–59	vs. Duke	19–11, 11–7 ACC
			ACC tournament Greensboro Coliseum
7	Thursday	L, 60–59	Second round: vs. Miami	19–12
			NCAA tournament Columbia, S.C.
22	Friday	W, 59–56	First round: Michigan State	20–12
24	Sunday	L, 88–41	Second round: No. 1 South Carolina	20–13

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics