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.

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.

Team	League	Overall	NET*
No. 16 Louisville	2–0	11–3	14
Syracuse	1–0	10–1	40
Wake Forest	1–0	10–2	125
Stanford	1–0	9–2	33
No. 20 Notre Dame	1–0	8–2	19
Virginia	1–0	8–3	29
N.C. State	1–0	7–4	30
Duke	1–0	4–6	38
Clemson	1–1	8–4	49
No. 18 North Carolina	0–1	10–3	17
Virginia Tech	0–1	8–3	63
California	0–1	8–4	68
Miami	0–1	6–4	48
Pittsburgh	0–1	6–6	254
SMU	0–1	5–6	153
Florida State	0–1	4–8	112
Georgia Tech	0–1	4–8	118
Boston College	0–1	4–9	208

* — Through Tuesday games
Tuesday’s result
Syracuse 72, Binghamton 54
Wednesday’s games
No. 18 North Carolina 84, UNCW 34
Clemson 78, Charleston Southern 52
No. 16 Louisville 76, Eastern Kentucky 51
Thursday’s games
Virginia Tech at Florida State, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Miami at Wake Forest, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Saint Francis at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Georgia Tech at N.C. State, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
South Dakota State at Duke, 7 p.m., ACC Network
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