The No. 4 NC State women’s basketball team throttled the Syracuse Orange inside Reynolds Coliseum on Sunday, Feb. 20, winning 95-53 on senior day and the team’s regular-season home finale. The win gave NC State its first ACC regular-season title in 32 years.
NC State’s (25-3, 16-1 ACC) victory in its penultimate regular-season game encapsulated everything the Wolfpack’s graduating class displayed over its years in the program: perfect, efficient and cultured.
“We recruit character,” said head coach Wes Moore. “We recruit great young ladies, great people. And when you can keep them around for this long, you know, they’re going to continue to work, get better. … I’ll be honest, when I got here, I didn’t know we’d ever win [the championship]. And now here we got a couple of tournaments and a regular season.”
In storybook fashion, graduate guards Raina Perez and Kai Crutchfield, graduate forward Kayla Jones and senior center Elissa Cunane played their hearts out in front of the Wolfpack faithful, propelling the Pack to a dominant victory. Moore put the seniors in for one possession toward the end of regulation, causing a standing ovation inside Reynolds.
It was a day full of Wolfpack glory. Not only did NC State come away with the victory, but the 1984-85 ACC Championship team was honored, Chancellor Randy Woodson and Athletics Director Boo Corrigan were in attendance, and the team was surprised with the team’s regular-season title trophy at the end of regulation.
“I thought that was neat,” Moore said. “I appreciate the ACC office making that happen. To have the trophy here today, that’s pretty awesome. And to have Dr. Woodson and Boo [Corrigan] here as well, to celebrate with the players, it was special, and the fans, you know, to be able to do it in front of our fans. That was pretty neat. You know, it’s not often that you get to do that. So it made it even more special.”
The Wolfpack’s upperclassmen accounted for 77 of the team’s 95 points in a historic day all around. NC State outrebounded Syracuse (11-15, 4-12 ACC) 59-27, outscored the Orange 62-16 in the paint, had 25 assists on 42 made buckets (59.5% assist rate) and shot 54.5% from the field in the game. The 42-point victory was NC State’s largest of the season since the 100-52 victory over Towson in mid-November.
Junior wing Jakia Brown-Turner was effective early, boosting the Wolfpack in the first, scoring five points, four rebounds and four assists in the quarter. Brown-Turner, who has been on an amazing streak recently, finished the game with 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
Brown-Turner’s near-triple-double was just one of the Wolfpack’s amazing individual performances in the game. Jones finished with 18 points on 8 of 12 shooting, Cunane finished just shy of a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Perez, junior forward Jada Boyd and junior center Camille Hobby had 26 points combined.
Cunane, along with the rest of the graduating class, has come a long way since joining the Wolfpack. Cunane’s first career start was against Syracuse, bringing things full circle for her final game in Reynolds Coliseum.
“[NC State] was a great program, but I wanted to take it to another level, I wanted to be a part of the NC State legacy,” Cunane said. “And over my four years, we’ve done that, you know, and it’s not even in the championships we won, but it’s in the culture that we bring to the team, the relationships that we’ve made. And so I didn’t come here just to be another person, a part of NC State, I came here to make a difference. And I think that shows in everything”
NC State came out of the gates on fire, going on an immediate 11-0 run in the first 2:34, and never looked back. By the end of the first quarter, the Pack was up 28-9 and only allowed one Syracuse player to score in the entire period. The nine-point first quarter by the Orange was NC State’s 20th time holding an opponent to single digits in a quarter this season.
The rest of the game brought more of the same. Things slowed down a bit for the Wolfpack in the second quarter as Syracuse scored 17 points, but the Pack never lost its footing and cruised through the rest of the win. In the fourth quarter, the Wolfpack’s younger players stepped in and continued to dominate Syracuse, giving a glimpse into the future of the program.
“Yeah, I mean, when you think about it, we’re seniors, we’re leaving,” Cunane said. “And we’re leaving the next group of kids to grow up in this program. So I think that we’ve just tried our best to help them grow, to teach them. And so to see them out there like balling out kind of as our goodbyes, I’m just super proud of them.”
NC State’s victory allowed it to hoist the ACC regular-season title trophy, but there is plenty more work to be done. Next up, the Wolfpack takes on Virginia Tech on Sunday, Feb. 27 at 6 p.m. in Blacksburg, Virginia. That game can be broadcast on the ACC Network.
After that? It’s back to work, as the Wolfpack will go on to the ACC Tournament in hopes of winning its third straight conference title.
“But again, we’re not done,” Moore said. “The reason [the seniors] came back was to try to make a mark in the postseason, in the NCAA tournament. And so we still have a lot of work ahead of us. But this is a great accomplishment for them.”
Graduate guard Raina Perez, graduate forward Kayla Jones, senior center Elissa Cunane, and graduate guard Kai Crutchfield pose with head coach Wes Moore during NC State’s senior day game against Syracuse on Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022 at Reynolds Coliseum. NC State beat Syracuse 95-53.
