NC State women extend home win streak with 64-45 NCAA Tournament win over Chattanooga

Raleigh, N.C. — Third-seeded Wolfpack women's basketball (28-6) defeated 14th-seeded Chattanooga (28-5) by a 64-45 score in its 2024 NCAA Tournament opener on Saturday afternoon.

Playing inside of Reynolds Coliseum, NC State extended its home winning streak in the NCAA Tournament to 17 games in a stretch that started in the 1985 edition of the postseason event. It also marked the Pack's 19th time in 29 NCAA Tournament appearances advancing past the opening round of action.

The Pack moves on to Monday's second round game, which will also be played in Reynolds Coliseum, to take on sixth-seeded Tennessee.

Aziaha James scored a game-high 19 points, with all of those coming in the second half. She hit 5-of-10 three pointers, with that marking the second-highest number of threes any Pack player has hit in an NCAA Tournament game.

River Baldwin posted her seventh double-double of the year with 10 points and 11 rebounds. She led the team on the boards, with six of hers coming on the offensive glass.

Saniya Rivers also scored in double figures with 16 points. Madison Hayes (4) and Zoe Brooks (5) combined for nine of the Pack's 10 assists on the day, with Hayes' mark tying her career high.

Rivers hit a turnaround jumper right before the first-half buzzer to give NC State its largest lead of the opening half (26-17), and the Wolfpack outscored the Mocs by 10 (19-9) in the third quarter to put its lead into double digits for good. The Wolfpack led by 20+ points the entirety of the fourth quarter until Chattanooga's final free throw of the game.

NC State limited Chattanooga to single digits in three of four quarters, and the Mocs' 45 points scored are the second-fewest given up by the Wolfpack in an NCAA Tournament contest.

All 12 available Wolfpack players saw time on the court in the win, with freshmen Brooks, Maddie Cox, Laci Steele, Mallory Collier and Jannah Eissa playing in the first NCAA Tournament game of their careers.