Irinea Wilson of Ogdensburg, N.Y. tries her luck with the N.C. Education Lottery whenever she visits her daughter in New Hanover County, but she never thought she would actually be a big winner.

Wilson was on a pre-Black Friday shopping trip with her daughter on Thanksgiving Day when they stopped at the Kangaroo Express on Gordon Road in Wilmington so that she could buy tickets for that night’s Carolina Cash 5 drawing. The next morning, she got on the Internet to check the winning numbers and discovered that her numbers, made up of family birthdays, had won the $145,364 Thanksgiving night jackpot.

“It was so exciting,’ Wilson said Monday as she collected her winnings at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. “Then I cried.”

Wilson said two of her daughters are educators so she likes that the North Carolina lottery supports education. She said she was so surprised about her win that she didn’t have any plans yet for how to use her prize money. After tax withholdings, she received $100,665.

“It is just still sinking in that I have won this,” Wilson said. “I never thought I would win anything.”

Cash 5 jackpots start at $50,000 and grow until they are won. Tuesday’s Cash 5 jackpot is $110,000.

Ticket sales made it possible for the lottery to raise more than half a billion dollars for the state last year. For details on how $69.7 million in lottery funds have made a difference in New Hanover County, click on the “Where the Money Goes” tab on the lottery’s website.