By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina is back in the top 10 for the first time in three seasons, moving up three spots to No. 9 in the AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll after knocking off N.C. State 66–65 on Sunday and sophomore guard Reniya Kelly is the ACC Player of the Week.

It’s UNC’s highest ranking and first time in the top 10 since it was No. 6 on Dec. 19, 2022, in a season the Tar Heels finished 22–11.

Kelly opened the week with 20 points on 7 of 14 shooting, including 2 of 2 from 3-point range and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line, as she led UNC to a 67–62 home win Thursday over Virginia Tech. In Sunday’s win over the Wolfpack, Kelly posted a career-highs of 23 points and five 3-pointers.

Kelly, who has started all 26 games, is averaging 10.1 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.2 steals per game.

Carolina (23–4, 11–3 ACC), which is 7–0 on the road, plays a pair of road games this week, visiting Syracuse (10–15, 4–10) at 6 p.m. Thursday (ACC Network) and Louisville (18–7, 11–3) at 2 p.m. Sunday (ESPN).

The Wolfpack (20–5, 11–2), who ascended to the top 10 last week for the first time since the preseason poll, fell three spots to No. 13.

Kentucky (20–4), which lost at Carolina 72–53 on Dec. 5, finally fell below the Tar Heels in the rankings, going down six slots to No. 14 after losing to Ole Miss 66–57 and Texas 67–49.

ACC leader Notre Dame (22–2, 13–0) took over the No. 1 spot after beating Pittsburgh 88–57, while UCLA, previously the top-ranked team, lost 71–60 to Southern Cal.

Other conference teams in the poll are No. 11 Duke (20–5, 11–2) and No. 20 Georgia Tech (21–5). Florida State (20–6) went from No. 23 to unranked after losing 83–69 to Louisville and beating Miami 83–82.

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AP Top 25

Rank	Team (1st-place votes)	Record	Poll points	Previous
1	Notre Dame (16)	22–2	733	2
2	Texas (8)	26–2	718	3
3	UCLA (6)	24–1	694	1
4	USC	23–2	668	6
5	UConn	24–3	632	7
6	South Carolina	23–3	599	4
7	LSU	25–2	569	5
8	Ohio State	21–3	499	9
9	North Carolina	23–4	475	12
10	TCU	24–3	472	11
11	Duke	20–5	444	13
12	Kansas State	24–3	420	14
13	N.C. State	20–5	411	10
14	Kentucky	20–4	378	8
15	Tennessee	19–6	354	15
16	Oklahoma	19–6	327	16
17	West Virginia	20–5	190	18
18	Alabama	20–5	187	21
19	Baylor	22–5	154	25
20	Georgia Tech	21–5	136	19
21	Maryland	19–6	133	17
22	Michigan State	19–6	131	22
23	Creighton	21–4	96	24
24	Oklahoma State	20–5	90	20
25	Illinois	21–5	53	NR

Others receiving votes: California 48, Utah 43, Louisville 28, South Dakota St. 17, Florida St. 16, Richmond 10, Michigan 10, Mississippi 10, James Madison 2, Vanderbilt 2, Harvard 1.

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Team	League	Overall	NET*
No. 7 Louisville	9–0	19–3	9
No. 20 Duke	9–0	14–6	14
N.C. State	7–2	14–6	25
North Carolina	6–3	17–5	20
Virginia Tech	6–3	16–5	42
Syracuse	6–3	16–4	41
Virginia	6–3	14–6	37
Clemson	5–4	14–7	40
Notre Dame	5–4	13–7	30
Stanford	4–4	15–6	36
Miami	4–5	12–8	47
Georgia Tech	4–5	9–12	91
California	3–5	12–9	56
Wake Forest	2–7	12–9	122
Florida State	2–7	7–14	107
SMU	1–8	8–13	176
Pittsburgh	1–8	8–14	261
Boston College	0–9	4–18	256

* — Through Wednesday games
Thursday’s games
Virginia at Wake Forest, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Pittsburgh at Virginia Tech, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Georgia Tech at Syracuse, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
N.C. State at Boston College, 6 p.m., ACC Network
SMU at Clemson, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
No. 7 Louisville at Stanford, 8 p.m., ESPN
No. 20 Duke at Miami, 8 p.m., ACC Network
Notre Dame at California, 10 p.m., ACCN Extra
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

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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

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics