For the second year in a row, the NC State women’s basketball team sits atop the ACC, beating the Louisville Cardinals 58-56 in the 2021 ACC Championship.
No player was more clutch than graduate guard Raina Perez, who, with two seconds remaining on the clock, hit the game-winning jumper.
“I was honestly looking for the pass,” Perez said. “I hadn’t made a shot all second half, so I think I was kind of more in my head. But then they doubled on [Cunane], and I was wide open. I had to take it, and what do you know, it went in.”
In the fleeting moments of the game, Louisville’s Dana Evans got the last shot up with just over a second left on the clock. Despite making 199 3-pointers over the last three seasons, Evans missed at the perfect moment for the Wolfpack, clinching the win.
“This team is just so resilient and they just find a way to win,” said head coach Wes Moore. “Obviously dug an eight-point deficit there in the fourth period, and they didn’t blink an eye, just kept battling.”
Junior center Elissa Cunane took home the tournament’s Most Valuable Player Award after putting up 20 points, nine rebounds and three assists, with nine of her points coming in crunch time.
“It’s amazing to win back to back,” Cunane said. “It’s tough in this league. Winning once was hard. Winning twice was harder. Especially through this season with COVID and everything, it’s just amazing to be able to be on top again.”
NC State trailed by as many as eight points in the fourth quarter before going on a run, prompted by the heroics of Cunane, as she had done all tournament long. While Louisville’s Evans turned it on in the fourth quarter, the Pack got several legendary offensive boards en route to cutting down the nets.
Senior guard Kai Crutchfield joined Cunane in being named to the All-Tournament First Team after playing stellar defense on the two-time ACC Player of the Year in Evans. Before a strong fourth quarter, Evans was shooting 20% from the floor due largely in part to ‘Clutchfield.’
“Again, several of those players — yesterday Kai Crutchfield stepped up unbelievably in the fourth period, and that’s a senior leader for you,” Moore said. “Kayla Jones has done that several times, another senior. Raina Perez, graduate student, and then Elissa Cunane…Unbelievable, all of them. They just find a way to get it done.”
After allowing Louisville to get out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first quarter, the Wolfpack fought back after Perez scored or assisted on three of the team’s first four buckets. At the end of the first quarter, Cunane was up to six points, and the team was able to take advantage of some sloppy Louisville play to get easy buckets from sophomore wing Jakia Brown-Turner and sophomore forward Jada Boyd.
NC State’s second quarter allowed the team to take the lead into halftime amidst a hotly contested game that featured seven first-half lead changes. The team was aided by Cunane’s facilitator role that saw her dish out a team-leading three assists through the second quarter, including a fantastic sequence that gave Crutchfield a 3-pointer in the corner to take a lead.
Despite committing eight turnovers, the Pack was able to ride phenomenal defense from Crutchfield through the first half; Crutchfield held Evans to just 1-of-5 shooting in the half.
The Wolfpack came out of the gates on fire in the third quarter, riding an 8-0 run to take a seven-point lead to begin the period. After a cold tournament, Brown-Turner led the way on that stretch, going on a personal 5-0 run. However, Louisville got right back into the thick of things behind a 10-2 run boasted by a couple buckets from Elizabeth Dixon.
Despite beginning the game in a shooting cold spell, Evans quickly made up for it late in the third, getting six points in that period alone. Evans continued her hot streak into the final quarter, helping Louisville build an eight-point lead off a pull up 3-pointer with 8:58 remaining.
The final quarter was the most intense cage fight NC State has engaged in all year long, with both teams putting everything on the line in their bids to win the championship. Cunane’s best work once again came late in the fourth quarter, getting two late crucial foul calls to maintain a Wolfpack lead.
Cunane’s 70 points in the ACC Tournament is the stuff of legend, and she’ll have a chance to build on that with the NCAA Tournament on the horizon.
“That girl has got a lot of confidence,” Moore said. “She’ll keep coming at you. You may double her, you may force her into a turnover, but you’d better keep playing because she’s going to bring it back. Again, she made some big plays down the stretch today, especially getting to the foul line and knocking down free throws.”
In the end, Boyd and senior forward Kayla Jones each had huge moments off second-chance points, with Jones earning “one more year” chants from the crowd following the game.
After Cunane split a pair of late free throws, it was the grad transfer out of Cal State Fullerton, Raina Perez, who clinched the Pack’s title with her late jumper. After forcing a last-second miss by Louisville, the balloons and confetti came down inside Greensboro Coliseum while the crowd went wild.
“I don’t know where we’d be without Raina,” Moore said. “For her to come in and first of all be accepted — you’ve got to give our players credit, too, for having open arms and being excited, but a lot of that has to do with Raina, not only as a player, again, she works, she comes in and prepares like a pro, but she also is just an unbelievable person off the court, great personality, fun to be around, and so that’s why it worked. It doesn’t always work that way, but Raina made it work on the court and off, and our team is whole lot better because of it.”
NC State will next prepare for the NCAA Tournament held in San Antonio that begins Sunday, March 21. The selection show will take place on Monday, March 15 at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
“I think it’s more about just the heart of a champion if you want to call it that,” Moore said. “They just found a way to make plays, and as Jim Valvano would say, Never give up. They just keep coming.”
NC State is named the 2021 ACC Women's Basketball Champions in Greensboro, N.C., Sunday, March 7, 2020. (Photo by Sara D. Davis, the ACC)
