RELEASE: Aziaha James Tabbed Naismith Trophy National Player of the Week

ATLANTA – Aziaha James of the 10th ranked NC State women’s basketball team was named the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy Player of the Week, as it was announced by the organization on Monday.

James led NC State to back-to-back top 25 wins, while averaging 29.0 points per game on 64.9 percent shooting, 5.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game.

James started the week on a high note against No. 10/10 Duke with a career-high 36 points behind an efficient 15-of-19 shooting from the field. She had 27 of those points in the second half, while adding six rebounds and one block and steal. Her 36 points was the most for an NC State player since 1998 and the fifth most scored in a game by an ACC player this season.

She followed that up with her 11th 20-point game of the season with 22 points off 9-of-18 shooting from the field with five rebounds, two assists and three steals at No. 22/22 Florida State.

James is averaging 18.0 points per game behind 46.8 percent shooting (159-of-340) and 32.9 percent (47-of-143) from 3-point with 4.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. Her scoring average is the fifth best in the ACC and she is No. 20 on the all-time scoring list at NC State with 1,375 career points.

The Virginia Beach, Virginia native has scored double-digits in scoring in all but one game this year and has led the Pack in scoring in 10 games this season.

James continues to garner attention, being tabbed a USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week following back-to-back 20-point games vs. Pitt and Virginia (Jan. 13-19), and was tabbed to the Naismith Player of the Year and Wooden Award Preseason Watch Lists, as well as the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 and USBWA Midseason Top 50 lists.