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NC State women's basketball surges into AP Top 10

image_6483441 (3)by:Noah Fleischmanabout 16 hours

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Zoe Brooks
NC State guard Zoe Brooks dribbles up the floor against Syracuse. (Photo credit: NC State Athletics).

NC State women’s basketball entered the week looking for its first win over a ranked opponent this season. It departed the two-game stretch 2-0 with a pair of top-25 wins, including a comeback victory over then-No. 10 Duke and a dominant effort at No. 22 Florida State.

And the Wolfpack was rewarded for its performances.

NC State moved up four spots to No. 10 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 rankings, released Monday afternoon. The surge through the rankings marks the Pack’s highest spot on the list since it opened the year at No. 9 in the preseason poll.

Senior guard Aziaha James, who is continuing to boost her WNBA draft stock this season, led the Pack in scoring in both wins. She dropped a career-best 36 points in the 89-83 win over the Blue Devils before she added another 22 in a 97-74 landslide win over the Seminoles.

While James was key in powering the Pack in both games, NC State had four others in double figures against Florida State. Sophomore guard Zoe Brooks had 21 points on 50 percent shooting, while senior wing Madison Hayes had 14 and senior guard Saniya Rivers chipped in with 12.

Freshman forward Tilda Trygger turned in her best outing of the season at Florida State with a 16-point, 14-rebound double-double in 34 minutes on the court. The effort marked her second double-double of the season with the most boards of her young collegiate campaign.

NC State will now prepare to host Miami on Thursday before it visits No. 13 North Carolina on Sunday afternoon. The Wolfpack is one of six ACC teams ranked inside the AP Top 25 this week and it is the second-highest rated, just behind No. 2 Notre Dame.

Here’s the full AP Top 25 rankings:

RankingNameRecordPrevious rankingTotal voting points
1UCLA 23-01775 (31)
2Notre Dame21-23733
3Texas24-24713
4South Carolina22-22687
5LSU25-16646
6USC21-27628
7UConn22-39570
8Kentucky19-211521
9Ohio State20-38487
10NC State19-414480
11TCU22-39443
12UNC21-413429
13Duke19-510426
14Kansas State22-312407
15Tennessee17-619316
16Oklahoma17-615311
17Maryland17-516290
18West Virginia19-418258
19Georgia Tech20-417257
20Oklahoma State19-425156
21Alabama20-523146
22Michigan State18-52186
23Florida State19-52278
24Creighton20-4NR61
25Baylor 20-5NR48

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