RALEIGH, N,C, (AP) — Tennessee didn’t wilt when North Carolina State built a 20-point lead. Just as importantly, the Wolfpack didn’t either after Lady Vols climbed all the way back within a single bucket.
And that sent Wes Moore’s squad on to the Sweet 16 of March Madness again.
Aziaha James scored 22 points and had two critical late buckets as the third-seeded Wolfpack held off the sixth-seeded Volunteers 79-72 in Monday’s second round of the NCAA Tournament, a win that came after N.C. State had squandered nearly all of that huge third-quarter lead.
“I’m just proud of them for keeping their heads up,” Moore said. “They could have real easily let the pressure get to them.”
It helped to have the backing of a boisterous home crowd at the venerable Reynolds Coliseum on campus, as well as James stepping up in the clutch for the Wolfpack (29-6) to hold on despite a huge game from Tennessee star Rickea Jackson.