Four members of the No. 10 NC State women’s basketball team were named to the end-of-season all-conference teams. Sophomore center Elissa Cunane was named a unanimous first-team All-ACC selection, senior guard Aislinn Konig earned second-team All-ACC honors, and freshmen Jakia Brown-Turner and Jada Boyd were both voted to the ACC All-Freshman team.
Cunane, a preseason selection who lived up to the hype, averaged 16.5 points and an ACC-leading 10 rebounds per game as she earned Lisa Leslie Award finalist honors as one of the nation’s best centers. The 6-foot-5 superstar improved nearly every aspect of her game and her hard work paid off with incredible performances such as a 28-point, 16-rebound game in a win over Elon, a 22-and-17 game in a home win over North Carolina or a dominant game in primetime against Florida State where she scored 20 points and 10 rebounds against All-ACC foe Kiah Gillespie.
“It has been really cool,” Cunane said. “It’s a testament to how hard I’ve worked throughout this year and the good job my teammates have done of helping me out to get to that point.”
Konig, the heart and soul of the team, was also a preseason selection and battled through a few shooting slumps to produce yet another productive season. The Canada native is on pace for her third season in a row with 90+ made 3-pointers, averaged over 10 points per game and once again led the Wolfpack in both minutes (33.1) and assists per game (3.7) while finishing third in the ACC with a 1.8 assist-to-turnover ratio.
“It’s really exciting. It’s an honor, this is a great conference,” Konig said. “A lot of my success is attributed to the amazing teammates and staff that are around me. I am very happy with that but I’ll allow myself to be more content with that after we get through [the postseason].”
Coming in as a highly-touted five-star recruit and one of NC State’s highest-ranked recruits in program history, Brown-Turner had high expectations to live up to and she did through and through. While starting every game except senior night, the freshman wing averaged 9.4 points and 3.3 assists per game while establishing herself as a sharpshooter on the outside, connecting on 36% of her over 100 attempts from deep.
“It was a wonderful accomplishment,” Brown-Turner said. “Me and Jada Boyd … for both of us to be on the freshman team was great. We want to help the team get better.”
Boyd came in with different circumstances. Raw but bursting with talent, the freshman forward wasn’t expected to contribute huge minutes. But Boyd carved out a role for herself in her 16 minutes per game as an energetic do-it-all player, leading to her averaging 7.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, the latter being third on the team. Boyd also finished second on the team in blocks with 15, just four ahead of her freshman teammate Brown-Turner.
“I’ve said before, Jada Boyd is going to be a great, great player,” said NC State head coach Wes Moore. “Already a great player. I think she had a little further to come from a high school preparation standpoint. A lot of this stuff is new to her but she’s done a great trying to pick it up.”
