RALEIGH, N.C. — Zoe Brooks scored a career-high 33 points to help 13th-ranked North Carolina State beat top-ranked Notre Dame 104-95 in double overtime Sunday, ending the Fighting Irish’s 19-game winning streak while keeping alive the Wolfpack’s hopes to share the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title.
All five starters for N.C. State (22-5, 14-2) reached double digits in points, with double-double performances by Brooks — the 5-foot-10 sophomore’s stat line included 10 rebounds — and Saniya Rivers, who just missed a triple-double with 14 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists, three blocks and two steals. Brooks, who made all 14 free throws she took to help the Wolfpack finish 24-for-26 at the line, and Rivers played 48 minutes of the 50-minute marathon.
Brooks came in averaging 13.5 points per game, and her previous high had been 21.
“It’s amazing,” Brooks said. “We’re all tired. We’re all banged up, all hurting. We just kept fighting. We wanted to win this game rally bad and we did everything we could to win.”
Aziaha James scored 20 points, 6-6 freshman Tilda Trygger added 19 and Madison Hayes had 13 for the Wolfpack. Hayes, a fifth-year senior, was a Chattanooga-area prep standout at East Hamilton and played one season at Mississippi State before transferring to N.C. State, which is led by former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach Wes Moore.
James’ performance included a highlight-reel transition layup in which she took the ball around her back to change hands and avoid a strip by Olivia Miles, a sequence that had the packed Reynolds Coliseum erupting in a roar.
By the end, the Wolfpack had hung on in a game that included 21 lead changes while denying the Irish (24-3, 15-1) the chance to clinch the ACC regular-season title outright.
Hannah Hidalgo scored 26 points to lead Notre Dame, while Sonia Citron added 23, including a tough 3-pointer over James with less than a second (0.6) left in regulation to extend the game. Miles just missed a double-double with 22 points and nine rebounds, while Liatu King got one with 16 points and 14 rebounds while adding four steals and two blocks.
N.C. State’s 10-0 start to the second five-minute extra period proved decisive, with Rivers finding Trygger inside for the go-ahead high-low finish. Brooks followed with a floater, and then James had her highlight layup to make it 98-92.
The day started with N.C. State players delivering doughnuts to fans lined up outside for hours to get in early on a day when ESPN’s “College GameDay” program was on site to highlight the matchup. By the end, Brooks was joining teammates in hopping around and celebrating on the court.
And it wasn’t long before they took that party to the campus Bell Tower to celebrate with fans — the site where the school marked the unexpected double NCAA Final Four by its men’s and women’s teams last spring.
Now, after earning its first home win against a No. 1-ranked team since beating Wayland Baptist in 1978, N.C. State still has a chance to grab at least a share of that title.
“Notre Dame deserves all the attention and all that they get,” Wolfpack coach Wes Moore said of the Irish’s talented guards. “But I like ours, too. We’ve got some pretty good ones.”