Princess Anne star guard James chooses N.C. State
Princess Anne’s Aziaha James, the reigning AllTidewater Girls Basketball Player of the Year, committed to North Carolina State on Saturday night.
James, a 5-foot-11 guard, is rated a five-star recruit and the 21st-ranked player in the country in the Class of 2021 by ESPN. She picked the Wolfpack — announcing on Instagram — after narrowing her many suitors to include Arizona, Florida,
North Carolina and Pittsburgh.
James has helped Princess Anne stay atop the mountain in girls basketball as part of Class 5 state championship teams as a freshman, sophomore and junior.
James averaged 18.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, 4.8 steals and 2.7 assists per game as a junior this past season, repeating as the All-Tidewater Player of the Year and earning State Player of the Year in Class 5.
The Cavaliers were declared co-champions this past season, their seventh consecutive state crown, after the Virginia High School League canceled the tournament final because of the coronavirus outbreak.
James persevered late in the season when she returned to the court four days after her brother, AJ, a former star basketball player at Green Run High, was killed in an accidental shooting. In her first game after his death, James scored a career-high 41 points in a state quarterfinal victory over Henrico and followed that with 32 points on 15-of-22 shooting in a semifinal win over Woodgrove.
James will join an N.C. State team that went 28-4 this past season, winning the ACC tournament for the first time since 1991 and finishing eighth in the final Associated Press poll. N.C. State’s 14 ACC wins were a singleseason program record.
Last week, five-star guard Jessica Timmons of Charlotte, North Carolina, committed to N.C. State.