There’s a lot of talk about chemistry on the Boston College campus. Specifically, the team chemistry behind the success of the school’s unbeaten, No. 1-ranked women’s hockey team and the 11-2 women’s basketball team.

The success of those winter programs, along with a No. 9-ranked women’s field hockey team, a No. 7-ranked women’s lacrosse team, and an NCAA Tournament appearance by the women’s soccer team, have made BC a rising power at the top level of women’s college athletics.

Asked about the hockey program’s 20-0 start, senior forward Dana Trivigno said, “Being able to work well with each other is our biggest asset. When you get a good group of people that get along outside the rink, when you can hang out with anyone on the team, that helps on the ice.

“If you make a mistake, you’re able to talk to your teammates about it. They can give you criticism, and it’s helpful.’’

The hockey and basketball coaching staffs share a good working relationship, too. They talk about different challenges with players and practice agendas, and “bounce things off each other,’’ according to hockey coach Katie Crowley.

On special occasions, they even swap duties. Before the 2014 Beanpot tournament, associate head basketball coach Yvonne Hawkins gave the hockey team a pregame pep talk.

Plus, the hockey program, while currently ranked No. 1, went through the same growing pains that coach Erik Johnson and the basketball team experienced the past two years. With that common ground, Johnson hopes the hockey team serves as a model and positive influence. And so do his players.

“The whole reason I came to BC was to build this program into what it is now,’’ said forward Emilee Daley, who grew up in Sharon. “I didn’t have an idea of what year I wanted it to happen in, but it’s great it happened so quickly.

“The success of the women’s hockey team is something we want to replicate. We want to get little hints and create the environment that they have, the winning culture.’’

Johnson took over the basketball team in 2012. His pitch to his first recruiting class: Let’s build a team good enough to make the NCAA Tournament and go from there.

Daley and Kelly Hughes, now juniors, bought in. After a 13-17 campaign last year, including a 5-11 mark in conference play, an NCAA berth is, somewhat unexpectedly, in the Eagles’ sights now. It would be the first since they advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in 2006.

“I definitely knew we had the potential to be this good,’’ said Hughes, who leads the team in scoring at 14.1 points per game. “If you’d asked me if we’d be 11-2 at this point in the season, I probably would have said, ‘No.’

“But it doesn’t surprise me. Every day in practice, Coach Johnson emphasizes that we can put ourselves in position to make the NCAA Tournament. We just have to continue doing what we’re doing.’’

During a 10-day summer trip to Italy that included three exhibition games, the players got an early start. They bonded and developed on-court chemistry overseas. Then, after suffering its first loss Nov. 28 to Oklahoma, the team defeated Purdue in the closing seconds of a road game. Hughes saw that game as a “chance to prove we can compete against the top teams in the country,’’ and it became an early defining moment.

Now, with a tough Atlantic Coast Conference schedule ahead, Johnson and the players know a lot of work remains to achieve their biggest goal.

“This team has put itself in a position to be able to say, ‘We can go make some noise in the ACC,’?’’ said Johnson. “We don’t have to win the thing, but we can be in the NCAA Tournament. That’s why kids come to Boston College, and I want nothing more than to give them that opportunity.’’

Meanwhile, the hockey team wants to earn the program’s first NCAA title. Last season ended in heartbreak when BC lost to Harvard in the Frozen Four semifinals.

But Crowley and her players adhere to the tried-and-true one-game-at-a-time approach. They don’t think too much about streaks or rankings, though they take pride in both.

That seems like a wise approach, since BC plays Boston University Saturday, and the last time the teams met, BC needed an overtime goal from senior Alex Carpenter to stay undefeated. The Eagles also have learned from last year’s ups and downs.

“Because of last year, when we were unbeaten for a while, a lot of our team is used to that, to going into games with that feeling of, ‘Oh, we don’t want to lose,’ ’’ said Crowley.

“But this year has been different. We don’t go into games thinking, ‘We don’t want to lose because we’re 20-0.’ We have gone into games thinking, ‘Let’s be better than we were the last game.’ ’’

After all, the streak and ranking will mean little if they don’t come away with some trophies in the months ahead.

“We want to have success the second half of the season,’’ said sophomore goalie Katie Burt, who along with Trivigno, Carpenter, and three other BC players attended the recent national team training camp in Blaine, Minn.

“We want to be competing for championships. We don’t want to be in the Beanpot consolation game. We don’t want to be knocked out of the Hockey East tournament in the semifinals. And we sure as heck don’t want to be out of the national championship game like we were last year.’’

Shira Springer can be reached at springer@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @ShiraSpringer