Hayes had a career-high 24 points to help the seventh-ranked Wolfpack win their 15th straight over Clemson, 71-49, on Thursday night. Her performance surpassed her previous best of 21, set nearly three weeks ago in a loss to Virginia Tech.

It’s a scoring role she is happy to take on this season.

“I kind of shied away from that last year,” Hayes said. “Last year, I was more like, ‘OK, I’ll hit the open shots and defend the best player on the floor.’ But I know this year, I have to step up as a leader. Not only defend and get rebounds, I’ve got to contribute, contribute.”

Hayes did that for the Wolfpack (17-2, 5-2 Atlantic Coast Conference).

She had two 3-pointers and an uncontested layup off her steal as North Carolina State opened with a 13-2 run. Hayes finished with three 3-pointers, a team-high nine rebounds and a pair of steals.

“Madison’s playing at a high level. She’s playing now like I anticipated her playing when we tried to recruit her,” Moore said.

The Wolfpack had gone 2-2 after opening the season 14-0 including road losses at Virginia Tech and Miami.

But Hayes and North Carolina State took control of this one in a hurry. When Clemson closed to 18-15, the Wolfpack went on a 14-0 burst to restore the big lead.

The Tigers (8-12, 1-7) could not respond and lost their seventh straight. North Carolina State beat Clemson by double digits for the 13th time in the past 15 meetings.

Mimi Collins scored 14 points and Saniya Rivers 13 for the Wolfpack.

Aziaha James, North Carolina State’s top scorer this season at 15.4 points a game, was limited to seven points on 3-of-16 shooting.

Ruby Whitehorn led Clemson with 11 points. The Tigers’ leading scorer, Amari Robinson, was held to 10 points after coming in averaging nearly 18 points a game.

THE BIG PICTURE

North Carolina State: The Wolfpack are versatile and constantly moving the ball for an open shot, traits that should keep them in the ACC chase. But the two league losses already have them a game behind one-loss league leaders Syracuse, North Carolina and Louisville.

Clemson: The Tigers opened 8-5 including a victory against Duke in their ACC opener. But it has been a difficult return to league play in January with Clemson falling to ranked ACC opponents North Carolina, Florida State, Syracuse, Louisville and Virginia Tech before getting slammed by the Wolfpack.

ACC STRUGGLES

Moore said it was good to see his team’s first-half fight in building a 43-23 lead at the break. The Wolfpack, picked eighth in the ACC this preseason, will need that same effort to stay in title contention. “This league is so good and the margin for error is so small,” he said. “There’s still a long way to go and it don’t take more than a couple of bad games and you’re right back there in the middle of the pack.”

UP NEXT

North Carolina State plays at Boston College on Sunday.

Clemson is at home to face Wake Forest on Sunday night.

___ Get alerts and updates on AP Top 25 basketball throughout the season. Sign up here ___ AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball