RELEASE: James, Rivers, and Brooks Honored With All-ACC Selections
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Aziaha James, Saniya Rivers and Zoe Brooks of the NC State women's basketball team were each honored with ACC postseason awards as the league office announced its 2023-24 all-conference teams on Tuesday afternoon.
James and Rivers were both named to the First Team All-ACC, with Rivers also garnering recognition as a member of the All-Defensive Team. Brooks was named to the All-Freshman Team.
This marks NC State's first time having multiple First Team All-ACC honorees since it had three following the 2020-21 regular season. Additionally, Rivers is the first All-Defensive Team member from the Pack since Kiara Leslie in the 2018-19 campaign.
James is the team's leading scorer this season with her average of 15.6 points per game, a scoring increase of +8.8 from the 2022-23 campaign. That scoring average ranks in the top 10 in the ACC, and she has posted 23 games in double figures, seven 20+ point contests and a pair of 30+ point outings.
The Virginia Beach native is putting up those numbers while shooting 40.7 percent from the floor and leading the team in three pointers made with 54 (1.8 per game). After being named to the 2021-22 All-Freshman Team, this marks James' first appearance on an all-conference team and she is also currently on the watch list for USBWA National Player of the Year.
Rivers was last year's ACC Sixth Player of the Year and also earned the all-conference nod for the first time in her career. She is ranked in the top 25 in the league in scoring (12.9), rebounding (6.4), assists (4.1) and steals (2.4). Defensively, her steal average is ranked fourth in the conference, and she is four away from cracking NC State's single-season top 15 list.
A native of Wilmington, N.C., Rivers has also been honored as a top 10 finalist for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award and is on multiple National Player of the Year watch lists. She scored in double figures in a team-leading 14 of 18 ACC games and did so in the final six league matchups of the year. Rivers dished out 5+ assists in three of those four ACC games in which she didn't score 10+ points. Wither her 33-point, 10-rebound, 5-assist contest against No. 2 UConn, the Wolfpack junior is one of only 10 players in the nation with a 30/10/5 game in 2023-24.
Brooks made history as a rookie by becoming just the second player in team history to post a triple-double on Dec. 10. Her 14 points, team-leading 12 rebounds and 10 assists marked the first performance for the Pack since Feb. 2001. She went on to have an additional 11-assist game two contests later to become the first Pack player in at least 15 years to have two 10+ assist games in the same season.
During her freshman campaign, the Plainfield, N.J., native is averaging 8.8 points, 3.5 assists and 41.7 percent shooting. Brooks' assist average ranks top 15 in the ACC, and her 105 assists on the year is currently ranked fourth on NC State's all-time list for rookie players.
NC State opens ACC Tournament action on Friday, March 8 in the quarterfinals after earning a double bye and the No. 2 seed. The team will face off against either Pitt, Georgia Tech or Duke at 5 p.m. that evening, with the game set to be televised nationally on the ACC Network.