Iowa State's Jada Williams shares 2-word reaction to Aziaha James' historic performance vs Phoenix Mercury

Iowa State transfer guard Jada Williams was hyped about Aziaha James' historic performance in the Dallas Wings’ 98-89 victory over the Phoenix Mercury on Thursday. James recorded 28 points, six rebounds and six assists in 38 minutes for the Wings. On Saturday, Williams reposted a video of the guard’s performance on Instagram Story.

“You harddddd," Williams captioned the story.

Following this performance, James became just the third rookie in Wings history to have a 25+ points, 5+ rebounds, and 5+ assists game, showing how much of a great night it was.

Former UConn star Paige Bueckers also produced 23 points, four rebounds and five assists, stepping up alongside James in the absence of Arike Ogunbowale and DiJonai Carrington, who are both sidelined.

“We faced a lot of adversity this week,” James said, addressing the absences. “But we never gave up on ourselves. We stayed together, stayed composed, and did what we had to do tonight.”

James also highlighted the key factor that helped her produce such a top-class performance.

“This league is fast-paced,” James said. “One of the things I’ve been working on is patience. I feel like I was patient tonight, allowed my shots to come to me, and just took the right ones.”

Bueckers also applauded James’ performance after the game, calling it the “Aziaha James game.”

“This was the Aziaha James game,” Bueckers said. “She set the tone for us early and never let up. Her confidence is contagious.”

Jada Williams would hope to one day produce such a stellar display when she steps up to the WNBA. The point guard, who spent her first two college seasons at Arizona, entered the transfer portal this year and has committed to Iowa State.

Iowa State secures the signing of former Arizona guard Jada Williams

Jada Williams entered the portal at the end of March, and the likes of Iowa State, Iowa, Baylor, and TCU were among the programs that showed interest. However, the point guard went ahead to commit as a Cyclone.

Williams has averaged 11 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game in her college career while shooting 36.2%.

The point guard replaces senior guard Emily Ryan, who graduated after spending five years with the Cyclones.

About the author

Babatunde Kolawole is a college sports journalist at Sportskeeda with over eight years of experience in the field with Canoncrested.com, Garbersports.com, LiveScore Bet Nigeria and Pulse Sports Nigeria.

Kolawole studied Agricultural Economics on the tertiary level but delved into sports writing after school. Over half a decade later, the experience garnered helped him land this role.

Historically, the Alabama Crimson Tide stands out as Kolawole's favorite team as he was drawn to their rich history.

As for basketball, JuJu Watkins is Kolawole's favorite current player due to how much diversity she has in her game, while Kareem Abdul-Jabbar gets the nod for past players because of how he dominated with UCLA.

Kolawole has appeared on several TV and Radio shows as a guest analyst, and in his spare time, likes to watch movies (a sucker for the Marvel Cinematic Universe) and listen to a lot of music. He also loves to travel.

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Edited by nagpaltusharn25