NC State women's basketball sits on the edge of history once again

Wes Moore led Chattanooga to an upset NCAA Tournament win over Rutgers in 2004. He was in the middle of a 29-win season with the Mocs and still nearly a decade away from returning to NC State.

Guard Katie Burrows, then Katie Galloway, knocked down a critical deep three on the program’s way to a huge win. During the Wolfpack’s Sweet 16 showdown with Stanford, junior guard Aziaha James hit a triple from a similar distance.

He took that as a good sign. 

NC State won the game 77-67— yet another authoritative statement that the Wolfpack has returned to the national stage after a brief absence last year. Two years ago, when the Wolfpack went into the tournament as a No. 1 seed, the program sat on the precipice of history but fell in double overtime to UConn.

The Wolfpack is back in the Elite 8 spotlight now. It’s the program’s third time in a regional final. 

“I think our program expects to be in a position to compete for this every year,” Moore said. 

Former head coach Kay Yow took the Wolfpack to a Final 4 in 1998. NC State has not returned since. Moore has 800 career wins to his name. He reached his first Elite 8 when he took the Wolfpack there in 2022.

That squad had great chemistry. Senior guard Madison Hayes and James were both a part of that team. Moore sees a similar bond with this year’s Pack.

“I think this team maybe is a little closer than maybe a year ago,” Moore said. “I think they really pull for each other.”

Junior guard Saniya Rivers is the only player on the roster with Elite 8 minutes under her belt. James and Hayes did not see the court two years ago. Rivers played 6 minutes for South Carolina as a freshman against Creighton. 

She won a national championship that season, seeing the court for 31 total minutes during the Gamecock’s tournament run. Rivers is now eyeing another Final Four appearance as one of the program’s superstars. She has played all 80 minutes of NC State’s past 2 tournament games. 

“Man, that would be amazing to add another ring to the collection,” Rivers said. “That would be nice. Just to feel like I’m more a part of a Final Four championship this year would be amazing.”

Moore is not worried about the Wolfpack’s tournament experience. NC State purposefully schedules one of the most challenging non-conference schedules in the country every year. It bolsters the tournament resume.

Regular season games against UConn, Colorado, Note Dame and Duke— 4 programs that made the Sweet 16— have helped prepare the Wolfpack for this moment.

“This team has been through a lot of big games,” Moore said

NC State has championship aspirations. To get there, the program will have to defeat No. 1 seed Texas. The Longhorns have lost 4 games all season and blew out Gonzaga in the Sweet 16. 

This game represents NC State’s chance to shatter another ceiling that has hovered over the program for the past quarter century. When Hayes joined the Pack as a sophomore, she played a rotational role as the team moved on to the Elite 8 after losing in the Sweet 16 each of the prior 3 tournaments. 

Hayes, who grabbed 10 rebounds and hit a pair of critical threes against Stanford, is ready to help the program take another leap after learning from her Wolfpack predecessors. 

“I feel like this year that’s what we had, the mentality of just wanting to get to a national championship, not just to the Final Four…I feel like we have that caliber team,” Hayes said. 

The Wolfpack had to play through some unusual circumstances in its last regional final appearance. NC State played UConn in the Bridgeport, Connecticut, bracket despite holding the No. 1 seed in the regional.

Moore has spent plenty of time in self-reflection over the past couple of years that followed NC State’s last Elite 8 loss. He’s grateful for another shot at a chance to cut down the regional nets. 

“Our program has the confidence, has the culture and feels like we belong on this stage,” Moore said. “But no doubt, we need to take another step, and that’s what’s in front of us. It will be tough against a great team, but we’re excited about the chance.”