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*	WAB*
No. 13 Duke	16–2	21–8	10	13
No. 12 Louisville	15–3	25–6	13	10
No. 16 North Carolina	14–4	25–6	19	14
N.C. State	13–5	20–9	23	27
Syracuse	12–6	22–7	40	31
Virginia Tech	12–6	22–8	41	34
Notre Dame	12–6	20–9	24	23
Clemson	11–7	20–10	44	40
Virginia	11–7	19–10	36	49
California	9–9	18–13	53	60
Stanford	8–10	19–12	42	56
Miami	8–10	16–13	58	65
Georgia Tech	7–10	12–17	76	109
Florida State	5–13	10–20	107	138
Wake Forest	4–14	14–16	121	134
SMU	2–16	9–21	220	209
Pittsburgh	1–17	8–23	262	238
Boston College	1–17	5–26	247	283

* — Through Sunday games
Thursday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 82, Virginia 70
No. 12 Louisville 69, Georgia Tech 50
Notre Dame 72, Syracuse 62
Miami 79, Pittsburgh 58
N.C. State 65, Wake Forest 58
No. 13 Duke 80, Florida State 52
Stanford 87, SMU 57
Clemson 70, California 63
Sunday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 74, No. 13 Duke 69
Virginia Tech 83, Virginia 82
Georgia Tech 79, Miami 49
N.C. State 93, Pittsburgh 43
Stanford 85, Clemson 50
Syracuse 90, Boston College 65
Notre Dame 65, No. 12 Louisville 62
Florida State 77, Wake Forest 74, OT
California 78, SMU 34
End of regular season
ACC tournament
Gas South Arena
Duluth, Ga.
March 4–8

Date	Day/month	Scores	Opponent/event (current ranks)	Record
	October
30	Thursday	L, 91–82	No. 4 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. 3 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	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 No. 22 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	W, 61–59	at N.C. State	18–5, 7–3
5	Thursday	W, 53–44	vs. Clemson	19–5, 8–3
8	Sunday	W, 84–56	vs. Wake Forest	20–5, 9–3
12	Thursday	W, 94–42	vs. SMU	21–5, 10–3
15	Sunday	L, 72–68	at No. 8 Duke	21–6, 10–4
19	Thursday	W, 66–63, OT	at Virginia Tech	22–6, 11–4
22	Sunday	W, 78–50	vs. Pittsburgh	23–6, 12–4
26	Thursday	W, 82–70	at Virginia	24–6, 13–4
	March
1	Sunday	W, 72–69	vs. No. 8 Duke	25–6, 14–4
	ACC tournament		Gas South Arena, Duluth, Ga.
6	Friday	W, 85–68	Quarterfinal vs. Va. Tech	26–6
7	Saturday	L, 65–57	Semifinal vs. No. 13 Louisville	26–7
			NCAA tournament Fort Worth 1 Regional
21	Friday	W, 82–51	First round in Chapel Hill: vs. Western Illinois	27–7
23	Sunday	W, 74–66	Second round in Chapel Hill: No. 17 Maryland	28–7
27	Friday	L, 63–52	Sweet 16 in Fort Worth, Texas: vs. No. 1 UConn	28–8