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. 16 Louisville	2–0	11–3	14
N.C. State	2–0	8–4	31
Syracuse	1–0	10–1	40
Stanford	1–0	9–2	32
No. 20 Notre Dame	1–0	8–2	19
Virginia	1–0	8–3	29
Duke	1–0	5–6	38
Wake Forest	1–1	10–3	127
Virginia Tech	1–1	9–3	63
Clemson	1–1	8–4	49
Miami	1–1	7–4	48
No. 18 North Carolina	0–1	10–3	15
California	0–1	8–4	70
Pittsburgh	0–1	7–6	250
SMU	0–1	5–6	154
Boston College	0–1	4–9	207
Florida State	0–2	4–9	112
Georgia Tech	0–2	4–9	125

* — Through Wednesday games
Wednesday’s games
No. 18 North Carolina 84, UNCW 34
Clemson 78, Charleston Southern 52
No. 16 Louisville 76, Eastern Kentucky 51
Thursday’s results
Virginia Tech 79, Florida State 54
Miami 64, Wake Forest 61
Pittsburgh 98, Saint Francis 46
N.C. State 87, Georgia Tech 58
Duke 97, South Dakota State 54
Friday’s games
Mercyhurst at Syracuse, 10:30 a.m, ACCN Extra
Northeastern at Boston College, noon, ACCN Extra
SMU at Sam Houston, 6 p.m., ESPN+
No. 22 Washington at Stanford, 10 p.m., ACCN Extra
Saturday’s games
No. 16 Louisville at No. 17 Tennessee, 11 a.m., Fox
Winthrop at Virginia, noon, ACCN Extra
South Carolina State at Florida State, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Duke at Belmont, 3 p.m., ESPN+
Sunday’s games
Charleston Southern at No. 18 North Carolina, noon, ACC Network
Radford at Virginia Tech, noon, ACCN Extra
Kennesaw State at Miami, noon, ACCN Extra
N.C. State at Davidson, noon, CBS Sports Network
Pittsburgh at Duquesne, 1 p.m., ESPN+
North Florida at Clemson, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Bellarmine at No. 20 Notre Dame, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
Southern at SMU, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
Oregon vs. Stanford in San Francisco, 6 p.m., ESPN
No. 19 USC vs. California in San Francisco, 8:30, ESPN

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. 16 Louisville	9–3, 0–1 ACC
17	Wednesday	W, 84–34	vs. UNCW	10–3
21	Sunday	Noon	vs. Charleston Southern	ACCN Extra
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. 20 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