By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina fell six spots to No. 22 in the AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll after the Tar Heels’ 77–71 home overtime loss Sunday to Stanford.

It was the first loss to an unranked team this season for the Tar Heels (13–4, 2–2 ACC), who were 13–0 in such games after Thursday’s 71–55 home win over California.

It’s UNC’s lowest rank of the season, with the previous low No. 18 in the Dec. 15 poll. Carolina earned the fewest poll points since they received votes in only the last six polls of the 2023–24 season.

UNC is one of nine teams in the previous poll on Dec. 22 to lose, including two that lost twice — LSU (14–2, which dropped seven spots to No. 12 after falling 80–78 to Kentucky and 65–61 to Vanderbilt) and Notre Dame (10–4, 2–2, which fell out of the poll after losing 95–90 to Georgia Tech in overtime and 92–68 at Duke).

Louisville (14–3), one of four teams atop the ACC at 4–0, remained the highest-ranked ACC team at No. 10 (up three spots) after beating SMU 91–59 and Virginia Tech 85–60.

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AP Top 25

Rank	School (1st-place votes)	Record	Poll points	Previous
1	UConn (28)	15–0	796	1
2	Texas (4)	17–0	772	2
3	South Carolina	15–1	725	3
4	UCLA	14–1	715	4
5	Oklahoma	14–1	654	T8
6	Kentucky	15–1	625	11
7	Vanderbilt	15–0	621	12
8	Maryland	15–1	537	7
9	Michigan	11–2	517	6
10	Louisville	14–3	485	13
11	Iowa State	14–1	462	10
12	LSU	14–2	456	5
13	TCU	14–1	454	T8
14	Iowa	12–2	403	14
15	Michigan State	14–1	280	24
16	Baylor	13–3	278	22
17	Texas Tech	16–0	263	21
18	Ole Miss	14–3	243	15
19	Ohio State	13–2	237	19
20	Tennessee	10–3	162	23
21	Southern Cal	10–4	150	17
22	North Carolina	13–4	129	16
23	Washington	12–2	117	NR
24	Princeton	13–1	91	25
25	Nebraska	13–2	65	20

Others receiving votes: Illinois 58, Notre Dame 27, Stanford 25, N.C. State 22, Alabama 13, West Virginia 9, Georgia 5, Duke 3, Oklahoma St. 1. Point values in parentheses indicate the number of first place votes.

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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