By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina moved up one spot to a season-high No. 13 in the AP Top 25 women’s basketball after two decisive road ACC victories last week.

The Tar Heels (17–3, 5–2 ACC) have won four consecutive games after victories at SMU 63–44 on Thursday and 75–58 at Pittsburgh on Sunday.

It’s Carolina’s highest rank since it was No. 11 on Jan. 30, 2023, after also winning big at Pittsburgh, 72–57.

ESPN’s last bracket projection, released on Friday, has UNC hosting first- and second-round games as a No. 4 seed in a Birmingham region, with No. 2 South Carolina as the No. 1 seed.

UNC is 12th in the NET rankings, the third-highest among league teams after Notre Dame (16–2, 7–0; 5th) and Duke (15–5, 6–1; 8th).

Two teams ahead of UNC in last week’s poll lost: Ohio State (17–1, which dropped three spots to No. 12 after a 62–59 loss to Penn State) and Oklahoma (15–4, which fell two spots to No. 15 after losing 101–60 to No. 2 South Carolina).

Other ACC teams in the poll are No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 14 Duke, No. 18 Georgia Tech (16–3, 4–3), No. 20 N.C. State (14–4, 6–1) and No. 22 California (17–3, 5–2).

AP Top 25

Through Games JAN. 19, 2025

Rank	Team (1st-place votes)	Record	Poll points	Previous
1	UCLA (27)	17–0	747	1
2	South Carolina (1)	18–1	717	2
3	Notre Dame (2)	16–2	687	3
4	Southern California	17–1	660	4
5	LSU	20–0	614	6
6	UConn	17–2	588	7
7	Texas	17–2	575	5
8	Maryland	16–1	553	8
9	TCU	19–1	504	10
10	Kansas State	19–1	491	11
11	Kentucky	16–1	438	12
12	Ohio State	17–1	426	9
13	North Carolina	17–3	394	14
14	Duke	15–4	355	16
15	Oklahoma	15–4	302	13
16	West Virginia	15–3	259	20
17	Tennessee	15–3	248	15
18	Georgia Tech	16–3	210	17
19	Alabama	17–3	209	19
20	N.C. State	14–4	197	21
21	Michigan State	15–3	179	22
22	California	17–3	148	NR
23	Minnesota	17–2	62	24
24	Michigan	13–5	50	NR
25	Baylor	16–3	37	NR

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Nebraska 35, Creighton 28, Mississippi 9, Utah 9, Vanderbilt 9, Oklahoma St. 5, South Dakota St. 2, Harvard 2 and Mississippi St. 1.

Team	League	Overall	NET*
No. 7 Louisville	10–0	20–3	9
No. 20 Duke	10–0	15–6	14
N.C. State	8–2	15–6	28
Syracuse	7–3	17–4	40
Virginia Tech	7–3	16–4	43
Virginia	7–3	15–6	37
North Carolina	6–3	17–5	21
Clemson	6–4	15–7	39
Notre Dame	5–5	13–8	32
Stanford	4–5	15–7	36
California	4–5	13–9	54
Miami	4–6	12–9	48
Georgia Tech	4–6	9–13	93
Florida State	2–7	7–14	108
Wake Forest	2–8	12–10	120
SMU	1–9	8–14	182
Pittsburgh	1–9	8–15	260
Boston College	0–10	4–19	250

* — Through Thursday games
Thursday’s results
Virginia 109, Wake Forest 103, 3 OTs
Virginia Tech 67, Pittsburgh 50
Syracuse 95, Georgia Tech 70
N.C. State 106, Boston College 84
Clemson 83, SMU 54
No. 7 Louisville 84, Stanford 66
No. 20 Duke 74, Miami 58
California 80, Notre Dame 69
Sunday’s games
Wake Forest at No. 20 Duke, noon, ACC Network
No 7 Louisville at California, 1 p.m.
Virginia at Virginia Tech, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Syracuse at Miami, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Boston College at Georgia Tech, 2 p.m., ACC Network
Notre Dame at Stanford, 4 p.m.
Florida State at Clemson, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Monday’s game
North Carolina at N.C. State, 6 p.m., ESPN2
Thursday, Feb. 5, games
Syracuse at Boston College, 6 p.m.
Stanford at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Clemson at North Carolina, 6 p.m., ACC Network
No. 20 Duke at No. 7 Louisville, 7 p.m., ESPN
Virginia Tech at Notre Dame, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Miami at Virginia, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
California at Georgia Tech, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Wake Forest at SMU, 7:30, ACCN Extra
Florida State at N.C. State, 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. 2 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. 4 Texas	8–2
			———————————
7	Sunday	W, 82–40	vs. Boston Univ.	9–2
14	Sunday	L, 76–66, OT	vs. No. 78 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	W, 90–38	at Boston College	12–3, 1–1 ACC
	January
1	Thursday	W, 71–55	vs. California	13–3, 2–1
4	Sunday	L, 77–71, OT	vs. Stanford	13–4, 2–2
11	Sunday	L, 73–50	at Notre Dame	13–5, 2–3
15	Thursday	W, 73–62	vs. Miami	14–5, 3–3
18	Sunday	W, 82–55	at Florida State	15–5, 4–3
22	Thursday	W, 54–46	at Georgia Tech	16–5, 5–3
25	Sunday	W, 77–71, OT	vs. Syracuse	17–5, 6–3
	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 No. 20 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. No. 20 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