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. 11 Duke	13–0	18–6	9
No. 9 Louisville	13–1	23–4	8
No. 21 North Carolina	10–3	21–5	19
N.C. State	10–3	17–7	23
Syracuse	10–4	20–5	38
Virginia Tech	9–5	19–7	44
Clemson	9–5	18–8	39
Virginia	9–5	17–8	37
Notre Dame	7–6	15–9	29
California	7–6	16–10	51
Georgia Tech	6–8	11–15	86
Stanford	5–8	16–10	43
Miami	4–9	12–12	57
Florida State	4–9	9–16	106
Wake Forest	3–11	13–13	123
SMU	1–12	8–17	195
Pittsburgh	1–12	8–18	259
Boston College	0–14	4–23	252

* — Through Thursdsay games
Thursday’s results
No. 21 North Carolina 94, SMU 42
Syracuse 84, Pittsburgh 51
Florida State 85, Boston College 76
No. 9 Louisville 86, Wake Forest 67
Clemson 67, Georgia Tech 65, 2 OTs
California 64, Virginia 58
Virginia Tech 79, Stanford 67
Sunday’s games
Pittsburgh at SMU, noon, ACC Network
Miami at Boston College, noon, ACCN Extra
No. 21 North Carolina at No. 11 Duke, 1 p.m., ABC
Virginia at Stanford, 2 p.m., The CW
Clemson at Syracuse, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
N.C. State at Notre Dame, 4 p.m., ESPN
Virginia Tech at California, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
Florida State at No. 6 Louisville, 6 p.m., ACC Network
Thursday’s games
No. 21 North Carolina at Virginia Tech, 6 p.m., ACC Network
Notre Dame at Wake Forest, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Georgia Tech at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
California at Florida State, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
N.C. State at No. 11 Duke, 7 p.m., ESPN
Boston College at SMU, 7:30, ACCN Extra
Stanford at Miami, 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. 9 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	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	1 p.m.	at No. 11 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. 11 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