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*	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

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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

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics