Cinderella teams are more hard to come by in the women’s NCAA Tournament, but the glass slipper fits for the North Carolina State Wolfpack.
The No. 3 seeded team toppled No. 2 Stanford and No. 1 Texas en route to only its second Final Four appearance in program history.
Junior guard Aziaha James leads the team with 16.7 points and adds 4.6 rebounds per game. She has come alive in the tournament, scoring 29 points to oust Stanford and then notching 27 points and tallying six rebounds to advance past Texas.
Head coach Wes Moore has the lofty job of returning NC State to glory. Hall of Fame coach Kay Yow took the Wolfpack to their lone previous Final Four appearance in 1998. The team went to the Sweet 16 or better 11 times under her leadership.
The Wolfpack will face undefeated and top-seeded South Carolina in their Final Four semifinal in Cleveland.
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Here is North Carolina State’s Final Four history:
How many times has NC State been to the Final Four?
This year is NC State’s second trip to the Final Four.
The Wolfpack previously made the national semifinal in 1998 under Hall of Fame coach Kay Yow. They lost to Louisiana Tech, 84-65.
How many national championships has NC State won?
North Carolina State has not won a national championship in women’s college basketball.
How many national championships has NC State been to?
The Wolfpack has never been to the women’s college basketball national championship. If they topple No. 1 South Carolina on Friday, it will be their first appearance in the title matchup.
Who is Kay Yow?
Kay Yow is a Hall of Fame basketball coach who was at the helm of the NC State Wolfpack for more than three decades. She joined the team in 1976 before the NCAA sanctioned women’s basketball. Once the sport was brought into the fold for the 1981-82 season, the Wolfpack were regularly in the NCAA Tournament. She led the Wolfpack to 11 Sweet 16 appearances, including their first Final Four in 1998. That season, she won her 500th game, making her only the third coach in women’s basketball history to do so. She set the foundation for the team that has been to the ACC championship game 17 teams and won seven tournament titles.
Yow died of breast cancer in 2009 at the age of 66. The basketball world carries on her legacy through the Play4Kay initiative, which raises awareness and funds for breast cancer research.