James played basketball for Princess Anne High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia. As a junior, she repeated as the Daily Press All-Tidewater Player of the Year and was named Virginia High School League Class 5 Player of the Year.[1] Four days after the death of her brother, James scored a career-high 41 points in a quarterfinal win at the Class 5 state tournament.[2] She helped her team win the state title in each of her four seasons and its eighth straight as a senior.[3] Rated a four-star recruit by ESPN, she committed to play college basketball for NC State.[4][5]
College career
As a freshman at NC State, James averaged 4.2 points per game and was named to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) All-Freshman Team.[6] In her sophomore season, she averaged 6.8 points and 2.3 assists per game, primarily coming off the bench.[7] As a junior, James entered a leading role and was named first-team All-ACC. She helped NC State reach the Final Four of the 2024 NCAA tournament, its first appearance since 1998, and earned most outstanding player honors for the Portland 4 Regional.[8]
James' older brother, Ashley "AJ" James, committed to play college basketball for Missouri State but died in an accidental shooting in 2020, before entering college.[10]
In April 2024, James attended Kelsey Plum's second annual Dawg Class, a 3-day camp with the purpose of helping top women college athletes transition from collegiate to professional basketball.[11] The 2024 camp was held at the IMG Academy and sponsored by Under Armour.[11]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
