By R.L. Bynum

After two home ACC victories last week, North Carolina jumped five spots in the AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll to No. 14 to tie the Tar Heels’ highest rank of the season.

UNC (15–3, 3–2 ACC) knocked off Duke 53–46 in overtime on Thursday and surged past Boston College 80–67 on Sunday, earning their 15th victory, the fastest to 15 since the 2021–22 Tar Heels went 25–7 and made the NCAA Sweet 16.

Carolina was No. 14 on Nov. 11 in the first regular-season poll of the season but fell two spots the next week after the Tar Heels’ 69–58 loss to UConn in Greensboro on Nov. 15. The Tar Heels were last ranked higher than that when they were No. 11 on Jan. 30, 2023.

Carolina is also 14th in the all-important NET rankings, with a 2–3 record in Quad 1 games, 4–0 in Quad 2 games, 2–0 in Quad 3 games and 7–0 in Quad 4 games. UNC is 15th in The Athletic’s power rankings and 19th in the Massey Ratings.

UNC plays two road games this week, facing SMU (10–7, 2–2) at 8 p.m. ET Thursday (ACC Network Extra) and Pittsburgh (9–9, 1–4) at 2 p.m. Sunday (ACC Network).

Duke was one of five teams ranked within six spots above UNC in last week’s poll to lose.

Previously undefeated Georgia Tech (15–2, 3–2), which lost to Virginia Tech 105–94 in overtime Thursday and 69–60 to Louisville on Sunday, fell four spots to No. 17. The Blue Devils (13–4, 4–1) dropped two positions to No. 16 after rebounding with a 60–55 win Sunday at Virginia.

Other teams just ahead of UNC in last week’s poll to lose were Tennessee (14–2), which moved up one spot after an 89–87 loss to LSU (which moved up one spot to No. 5), and West Virginia, which dropped three spots to No. 20 after a 64–57 setback against Oklahoma State.

California (16–2, 4–1) jumped six spots to No. 18 after beating N.C. State 78–71 and Florida State 82–70. The Wolfpack (12–4, 4–1) stayed at No. 21 after rebounding to beat Stanford 81–67.

The only other ACC team in the poll is first-place Notre Dame (14–2, 5–0), which remained at No. 3 and received two first-place votes.

AP Top 25

Rank	Team (1st-place votes)	Record	Poll points	Previous
1	UCLA (29)	16–0	773	1
2	South Carolina	16–1	740	2
3	Notre Dame (2)	14–2	710	3
4	Southern Cal	16–1	680	4
5	LSU	18–0	625	6
6	UConn	15–2	599	7
7	Texas	16–2	580	5
8	Maryland	15–1	556	8
9	Ohio State	16–0	553	9
10	TCU	17–1	501	11
11	Kansas State	17–1	492	12
12	Kentucky	15–1	428	15
13	Oklahoma	14–3	383	10
14	North Carolina	15–3	360	19
15	Tennessee	14–2	327	16
16	Duke	13–4	313	14
17	Georgia Tech	15–2	248	13
18	California	16–2	240	24
19	Alabama	16–2	235	18
20	West Virginia	13–3	178	17
21	N.C. State	12–4	131	21
22	Michigan State	13–3	117	20
23	Utah	13–3	91	22
T24	Minnesota	16–1	45	NR
T24	Oklahoma State	14–2	45	NR

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Michigan 43, Mississippi St. 22, Indiana 14, Creighton 12, Nebraska 11, Baylor 8, Louisville 5, Harvard 3, Mississippi 3, Florida St. 2, Iowa 1 and Vanderbilt 1.

Team	League	Overall	NET*
No. 13 Louisville	2–0	12–3	13
N.C. State	2–0	9–4	30
Syracuse	1–0	11–1	40
Stanford	1–0	11–2	31
No. 18 Notre Dame	1–0	9–2	16
Virginia	1–0	9–3	33
Duke	1–0	6–6	29
Virginia Tech	1–1	11–3	52
Wake Forest	1–1	11–3	119
Clemson	1–1	9–4	48
Miami	1–1	8–4	45
No. 16 North Carolina	0–1	11–3	20
California	0–1	8–5	63
SMU	0–1	7–6	137
Pittsburgh	0–1	7–7	234
Boston College	0–1	4–10	215
Florida State	0–2	5–9	113
Georgia Tech	0–2	4–9	122

* — Through Monday games
Saturday’s results
No. 13 Louisville 89, No. 23 Tennessee 65
Virginia 88, Winthrop 53
Florida State 77, South Carolina State 36
Duke 76, Belmont 46
Sunday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 93, Charleston Southern 74
Virginia Tech 79, Radford 47
N.C. State 68, Davidson 49
Miami 85, Kennesaw State 55
Duquesne 84, Pittsburgh 69
Clemson 84, North Florida 62
SMU 74, Southern 62
Stanford 64, Oregon 53
No. 18 Notre Dame 110, Bellarmine 38
No. 17 USC 61, California 57
Monday’s result
Wake Forest 78, Gardner-Webb 66
Sunday’s games
Wofford at Georgia Tech, noon, ACC Network
Stetson at Miami, 2 p.m., ACC Network
Clemson at Chicago State, 3 p.m.
Duke at Syracuse, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Cornell at Stanford, 4 p.m., ACCN Extra
Cal Poly at California, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
Monday, Dec. 29, games
Pittsburgh at No. 18 Notre Dame, 6 p.m., ACCN
SMU at Virginia, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
No. 16 North Carolina at Boston College, 8 p.m., ACC Network

Date	Day/month	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
30	Thursday	L, 91–82	No. 3 South Carolina in Atlanta	Exhib.
	November
3	Monday	W, 90–42	vs. N.C. Central	1–0
6	Thursday	W, 71–37	vs. Elon	2–0
			WBCA Challenge Las Vegas
13	Thursday	L, 78–60	vs. No. 4 UCLA	2–1
15	Saturday	W, 82–68	vs. Fairfield	3–1
			———————————
20	Thursday	W, 85–50	at N.C. A&T	4–1
23	Sunday	W, 94–48	vs. UNCG	5–1
			Cancun Challenge Cancun, Mexico
27	Thursday	W, 83–48	vs. South Dakota St.	6–1
28	Friday	W, 85–73	vs. Kansas State	7–1
29	Saturday	W, 80–63	vs. Columbia	8–1
	December		ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge
4	Thursday	W, 79–64	at No. 2 Texas	8–2
			———————————
7	Sunday	W, 82–40	vs. Boston Univ.	9–2
14	Sunday	L, 76–66, OT	vs. No. 13 Louisville	9–3, 0–1 ACC
17	Wednesday	W, 84–34	vs. UNCW	10–3
21	Sunday	W, 93–74	vs. Charleston Southern	11–3
29	Monday	8 p.m.	at Boston College	ACCN
	January
1	Thursday	Noon	vs. California	ACCN
4	Sunday	1 p.m.	vs. Stanford	ESPN
11	Sunday	1 p.m.	at No. 18 Notre Dame	ESPN
15	Thursday	7 p.m.	vs. Miami	ACCN Extra
18	Sunday	2 p.m.	at Florida State	The CW
22	Thursday	8 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
25	Sunday	2 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	The CW
	February
2	Monday	6 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN2
5	Thursday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ACCN
8	Sunday	2 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
12	Thursday	6 p.m.	vs. SMU	ACCN
15	Sunday	1 p.m.	at Duke	ABC
19	Thursday	6 p.m.	at Virginia Tech	ACCN
22	Sunday	Noon	vs. Pittsburgh	ACCN
26	Thursday	7 p.m.	at Virginia	ACCN Extra
	March
1	Sunday	Noon	vs. Duke	ESPN
			ACC tournament
4–8	Wed.-Sun		Gas South Arena, Duluth, Ga.
			NCAA tournament
20–24	Fri.-Mon.		First, second rounds
27–30	Fri.-Mon.		Regionals Fort Worth, Texas, and Sacramento, Calif.
	April
3, 5	Fri., Sun		Final Four Phoenix