By Louis Fernandez, WRAL Sports

It’s Tuesday morning and things have yet to slow down for former NC State do-it-all guard Saniya Rivers.

She was drafted No. 8 overall in the 2025 WNBA Draft. She rides in a limo to greet media at the facilities of her new team, the Connecticut Sun. Is a whirlwind of a weekend finally starting to sink in? After a long pause, she finally answers.

“Slowly. It’s slowly starting to hit me. I It’s just so surreal. A lot of, oh my, I can’t really put them into words,” Rivers said. “I’m just so excited to be a part of a family. I’m very blessed and fortunate that the Connecticut Sun took an opportunity on me. And you know, I’m just, I’m ready to get started.”

When Rivers crossed the stage at the WNBA Draft in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards on Monday night, she had plenty of support behind her: through the years playing, in Raleigh and of course, in person.

“Obviously, my parents, my grandma, all my siblings, were there. My aunt was there, high school coach, Coach (Wes) Moore, just more family friends, my nephew and my niece was there. So just plenty,” Rivers laughed.

Rivers and her teammate, Aziaha James, are the third and fourth NC State women’s basketball players to be drafted in the first round of the WNBA Draft. No Wolfpack player has gone higher in the draft than Rivers at No. 8 overall. It feels only right after the duo helped lead NC State back to the Final Four in 2024 and were a second away from back-to-back Elite Eight berths in 2025.

“Walking across that stage is crazy,” Rivers said. “I’m just thinking, ‘okay, don’t let me fall we on national television, you know, take your time, whatever.’ So it was just nice being up there with (WNBA Commissioner) Kathy (Engelbert) and holding up the jersey and taking the pictures.”

It’s a good thing she has those pictures too. Rivers might think it was all a dream without them.

“I have the pictures to live in the moment, but I still haven’t really processed that, like, it really happened. I woke up this morning, and it wasn’t a dream,” Rivers said.

That’s not to say Rivers didn’t believe she could get to this point. You have to trust your own abilities to have success at the highest level in athletics.

“I’ve had big moments. So I’m like, ‘okay, I can, I can actually hoop a little bit,'” Rivers said with a smile.

It was the run over the past two seasons that started to turn this professional dream into a reality.

A Wilmington, NC, native, Rivers is the only NC State player in school history to finish with a career statline of 1,118 points, 605 rebounds, 354 assists, 189 steals and 109 block. In her senior year, Rivers averaged 11.9 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, along with a team-leading 3.8 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.3 blocks per game with nine double-doubles.

After transfering from South Carolina after her freshman year, Rivers spent three seasons with the Wolfpack. Her versatility will be one of her most important traits to finding a home in the WNBA for a long time.

“I’m very versatile. I’ve been this way for a long time. I think that gives me an advantage. I can play both sides of the ball, play multiple positions, defending. So I think just me being versatile and me being myself is going to help me stick in this league a long time,” said Rivers.

Of course, doing this alongside her teammate and her friend made the experience all the more memorable. Rivers went No. 8 overall while James went No. 12 to the Dallas Wings. There’s a flurry of interviews and photo ops after getting your name called, so Rivers didn’t know what was going on.

“I went to the back, and I didn’t know who got drafted after me, so I’m like, ‘did twin get drafted? Where did ‘Za land?’ And next thing you know, she came around the corner, and I was just so excited. I saw what hat she was holding. I was like, ‘oh my god, like, this is crazy.’ I’m just so proud of her,” Rivers said.

“I think it says a lot for the (NC State) program. Says a lot for Coach Moore.”

Rivers said there’s a lot of pride in their success in Raleigh, and a lot of hope about what the future holds.

“I think we really, you know, took accountability of that and just really stuck in, like, really dug in to see what we could do to make each other better, what we could do to make the team better, what we could do to make the program better and I think we really did that, and I think last night, we really exemplified that,” Rivers said.

Now starts the next part of their journey. They’ll continue to challenge each other as they did during practice in Reynolds Coliseum.

“That’s my sister. She’s not just a teammate or a friend, she’s gonna be in my life a very long time, and vice versa. Even though we’re not the same team anymore, we’re looking forward to playing each other.”

“We’re proud of each other, love each other, and the support will continue forever.”

Source: wralsportsfan.com