NC State women's basketball maintained its No. 4 ranking in the latest Associated Press (AP) Top 25 Poll after suffering a road loss to North Carolina this weekend.

Monday marked the 10th consecutive week that the Wolfpack (12-2, 7-2 ACC) is ranked in the national top five according to the AP.

Following its second win over a top-ranked opponent this season, the Pack lost 76-69 Sunday to rival UNC in Chapel Hill.

NC State overcame a seven-point halftime deficit to take a 52-49 lead at the end of the third quarter, but was outscored 27-17 by the Tar Heels in the fourth quarter.

Junior center Elissa Cunane led the Pack with 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting in 22 minutes but fouled out of the game with 1:36 remaining. Cunane also had six rebounds, three steals and one assist.

Senior forward Kayla Jones had a team-high 10 rebounds and scored 13 points in 37 minutes. Fifth-year senior guard Raina Perez had a season-high 13 assists along with eight points and one rebound.

NC State is next scheduled to face Clemson in Reynolds Coliseum Thursday at 4 p.m. The game will be televised on RSN.

The Tigers (10-7, 5-7 ACC) are coming off of a 71-69 road loss to Georgia Tech on Feb. 4.

Clemson has lost six of its last eight and will be desperate for a quality win to bolster its NCAA Tournament résumé. The Tigers were projected to be a No. 11 seed in the Big Dance according to ESPN's Charlie Creme in his latest bracketology on Feb. 2.

"We can't lean on [the impacts of the COVID pause]. It's behind us. We've got to move on and be more consistent with our preparation, with our effort, with everything.

"That goes back to watching the film and hopefully seeing some things that we can do better. You've got to have energy, enthusiasm, fight. You've got to have those things every time out in this league or you're going to get beat. That's just the way it is. Give them credit, they had it.

"We're going to get everyone's A-game. Super Bowl Sunday? Right now, for everybody we play it's been Super Bowl Sunday, or whatever day of the week it is. You've got to be able to answer that." — NC State head coach Wes Moore following the 76-69 road loss to UNC Sunday.

These are the sorted rankings used by the NCAA Tournament committee (with sorted being the key word). What is most important is the quadrant rankings below them. This is the most recent standing of where the Pack compares to the opponents on its schedule:

*Through games as of Feb. 7, 2021

3. South Carolina — W (road)

6. Louisville – W (road)

10. NC State

25. Georgia Tech – W (road)

33. Virginia Tech – W (home), L (road)

36. Syracuse – TBD (road)

40. North Carolina – TBD (home), L (road)

43. Wake Forest – W (home), TBD (road)

52. Notre Dame – TBD (home)

54. Clemson – TBD (home)

56. Florida State – TBD (road)

59. Duke – Canceled (home and road)

70. Boston College – W (home), W (road)

72. Miami – W (home)

128. Pittsburgh – TBD (home)

176. Elon – W (home)

230. Virginia – Canceled (home and road)

225. North Florida – W (home)

263. NC Central – W (home)

327. Coastal Carolina – W (home)

***Note: there are 353 teams in the NET.

Broken down by the quadrants the NCAA committee uses (quadrant four wins are disregarded by NCAA committee):

Quadrant 1 (Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Road 1-75): 4-2 with 3 remaining

Quadrant 2 (Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Road 76-135): 4-0 with 3 remaining

Quadrant 3 (Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Road 136-240): 0-0 with 1 remaining

Quadrant 4 (Home 161+, Neutral 201+, Road 241+): 4-0 with 0 remaining

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