NC State women's basketball receives several All-ACC awards
The ACC released its annual women’s basketball postseason all-conference and player of the year awards Tuesday afternoon. Three NC State athletes received recognition from the conference.
Junior guard Aziaha James and junior guard Saniya Rivers both made the All-ACC first team, freshman guard Zoe Brooks made the all-freshman squad and Rivers also landed on the all-defensive team.
NC State’s guard trio were the only members of the Pack to receive postseason recognition. Senior guard Madison Hayes and senior forward Mimi Collins were noticeably absent from the awards release despite each playing career-best years for the Pack.
Head coach Wes Moore finished third in coach of the year voting, James ended up 11 votes short of the league’s most improved player award and Brooks was 21 votes away from the sixth person of the year accolade.
James played the best basketball of her collegiate year during the regular season, averaging a team-leading 15.6 points per game that ranked No. 11 in the ACC. Rivers also took a leap forward this winter, averaging 12.9 points per game to go along with 6.4 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 4.1 assists per game. In her first season of college basketball, Brooks played most of the season as the first player off the bench and averaged 8.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.
Here are the complete All-ACC teams, courtesy of the conference’s press release.
All-ACC First Team
Elizabeth Kitley, Gr., C, Virginia Tech – 1,603
Dyaisha Fair, Gr., G, Syracuse – 1,463
Hannah Hidalgo, Fr., G, Notre Dame – 1,461
Georgia Amoore, Sr., G, Virginia Tech – 1,402
Ta’Niya Latson, So., G, Florida State – 1,274
Deja Kelly, Sr., G, North Carolina – 921
Aziaha James, Jr., G, NC State – 871
Saniya Rivers, Jr., G, NC State – 815
Makayla Timpson, Jr., F, Florida State – 766
Liatu King, Sr., F, Pitt – 765
All-ACC Second Team
Maddy Westbeld, Jr., F, Notre Dame – 715
Amari Robinson, Gr., F, Clemson – 698
Sonia Citron, Jr., G, Notre Dame – 651
Alyssa Ustby, Sr., G/F, North Carolina – 573
Kiki Jefferson, Gr., G, Louisville – 504
Kymora Johnson, Fr., G, Virginia – 437
Tonie Morgan, So., G, Georgia Tech – 358
Kara Dunn, So., G, Georgia Tech – 349
Reigan Richardson, Jr., G, Duke – 252
Olivia Cochran, Sr., F, Louisville – 224
Last season, point guard Diamond Johnson was the only member of the Pack to receive all-conference recognition when she made the ACC’s second team. Rivers also won the league’s sixth player of the year award.
NC State returns to the court Friday, March 8, for an ACC Tournament quarterfinal clash. The Wolfpack enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed, searching for its fourth conference championship in five years.
