Aziaha James, NC State women’s basketball guard, had one simple explanation for her dominant scoring performance against Duke women’s basketball on Monday night.

“Duke and Carolina — them blues, it don’t sit right with me,” James said after her career-high 36-point outing led the No. 14 Wolfpack to an 89-83 win over No. 10 Duke at Reynolds Coliseum, as reported by Aaron Beard of the Associated Press.

James, a senior guard, shot 15-for-19 from the field, including 2-for-5 from three-point range, and scored 27 points in the second half to help the Wolfpack (18-4, 10-1 ACC) erase a 13-point deficit. She has now posted her two highest career scoring performances against Duke, having previously set her career high with 33 points in a January 2024 win.

“She’s got confidence,” NC State women’s basketball coach Wes Moore said. “She makes things happen, which makes it easy on the ol’ coach when sometimes you can just get out of the way and let them go.”

Aziaha James leads comeback for Wolfpack

Duke (17-5, 8-2) looked in control early after going on a 20-0 run in the first half and led by 13 points early in the third quarter. However, James sparked NC State’s comeback by scoring at all three levels—hitting pull-up jumpers, attacking in transition, and finishing contested shots in the paint.

James scored 15 points in the fourth quarter, including a crucial basket in the final minute. With NC State leading by three, she took an inbounds pass from Zoe Brooks and banked in a tough layup over Duke’s Toby Fournier to extend the lead to 86-81 with 35.9 seconds left.

Freshman post player Lorena Awou also played a key role in the victory, scoring six of her eight points in the fourth quarter, including a go-ahead putback while drawing a foul with 2:57 remaining.

Duke’s Ashlon Jackson led the Blue Devils with 23 points and six three-pointers, but their five-game winning streak came to an end.

Monday’s game also served as NC State’s annual Play 4 Kay event to raise funds for cancer research in honor of the late Kay Yow. The school announced nearly $478,000 in donations.

NC State has now won seven straight games and will travel to No. 22 Florida State on Sunday. Duke will return home to face Clemson on Thursday.