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Zoe Brooks Earns National Recognition For Latest Performance

NC State's talented guard continued her latest surge through ACC play and came away with Player of the Week Honors.
Tucker Sennett|
Oct 6, 2025; Charlotte, NC, USA; North Carolina State player Zoe Brooks reacts to a question from the media at The Hilton Charlotte Uptown. Mandatory Credit: William Howard-Imagn Images
Oct 6, 2025; Charlotte, NC, USA; North Carolina State player Zoe Brooks reacts to a question from the media at The Hilton Charlotte Uptown. Mandatory Credit: William Howard-Imagn Images | William Howard-Imagn Images

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North Carolina State Wolfpack

RALEIGH — Since the start of conference play, NC State women's basketball kicked things into another gear and shot to the upper part of the standings. The Wolfpack needed some improved play from some key players and one of them in particular has stepped up when her team has needed it most.

Junior guard Zoe Brooks proved herself to be one of the best offensive players in the ACC over the last two weeks, and with just one game last week, a Saturday matchup against Virginia, she walked away with ACC and USBWA National Player of the Week honors for a truly dominant and even historic performance.

More on Brooks' surge through the ACC

Brooks hadn't scored 20 or more points since the Pack's overtime loss to Oklahoma on Dec. 3. She found her scoring rhythm throughout the early part of the ACC schedule, but not to the extent she brought it to on Saturday. The undersized, yet powerful guard scored a career-high 37 points in NC State's 78-76 win over the 'Hoos. That performance pushed her season average to 15.8 points.

While she changed her personal history, she also changed the history books for the Wolfpack program as well. Brooks buried a record 19 free throws on a record 20 attempts, etching her name in NC State lore forever. To go along with her near-perfect shooting from the charity stripe, Brooks made 8-of-15 shots from the field and drilled her only two attempts from 3-point range. Virginia had no answer.

Brooks is averaging 17.3 points since the start of conference play, rising to the occasion in a crucial part of the 2025-26 season. She was the first member of the Wolfpack to earn a nod from the conference, as the weekly awards were dominated by Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo throughout the first two-plus months of the season.

The performance against Virginia was critical because Brooks went toe-to-toe with one of the best scoring guards in the ACC, Kymora Johnson, and came out on top. Less than a week after a devastating overtime loss to a Louisville team ranked in the top 10, Brooks was able to get her team over the hump in yet another overtime game and secured NC State's seventh conference win.

Brooks won ACC Player of the Week once during the 2024-25 season and has quietly put together a very strong season in her junior year. She will look to keep things rolling in Thursday's matchup against Boston College.

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Tucker Sennett
TUCKER SENNETT

Tucker Sennett graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Sports Journalism from the esteemed Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. A former basketball player, he has gained valuable experience working at Cronkite News and brings a deep passion for sports and reporting to his role as the NC State Wolfpack Beat Writer On SI.

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