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NC State Women's Basketball

Takeaways: Cunane's big night leads Wolfpack women into ACC play undefeated

December 10, 2020
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The No. 4 nationally-ranked NC State women’s basketball ended nonconference play on a high note Wednesday night, topping Elon 76-47 at Reynolds Coliseum to improve to 5-0 on the season. 

While the team still has plenty of improvements to make heading into Sunday’s ACC opener, there’s a lot to feel good about through five games. Here are some key takeaways from the Wolfpack’s last nonconference tilt:

Another strong night for the starters

NC State didn’t replicate Sunday’s top-to-bottom contributions, but the team still got another big night from its starters, with three players -- Elissa Cunane, Jakia Brown-Turner, and Kayla Jones –  finishing in double figures (more on Cunane and Jones in a bit).

Brown-Turner came into the season ready to take another step forward from her impressive freshman season, and so far, so good. She finished Wednesday’s game with 12 points, five rebounds, three assists, a block, and a steal. 

“I’m just trying to do anything that the team needs me to do and just letting the game come to me,” Brown-Turner said. “Whether I need to rebound, play defense, score or just get the team going and keep us motivated to win every game.”

Nick Faulker
Jakia Brown-Turner has scored in double figures in all five of NC State’s games this season.

Brown-Turner, a member of the ACC All Freshman team last season, has finished in double figures in every game so far this year and looks ready to be a key scorer from the wing again. 

It was a relatively quiet game, scoring-wise, for graduate point guard Raina Perez, but she once again ran the floor well with seven assists to just two turnovers and made an impact on the boards with six rebounds. 

“She’s been amazing,” Cunane said. “She can push the ball so well, as you can see. There was one pass in transition when she passed and I was like, ‘Wow. I’ve never had a point guard that was able to make a pass like that in transition.’ So I think we’re getting out, running, getting  a lot of points and turning our defense into offense. So Raina’s been a big part of that. She’s been able to get rebounds as well and push it down the court. I really like the tempo that she’s making the team run and I think it’s going to take us far.”

Big night for Cunane 

For her standards, especially in Sunday’s game, NC State’s All-American center Cunane had a bit of a quiet start to the season through four games. Tuesday night was anything but. 

Cunane posted her first double-double of the year with 22 points and 13 rebounds (10 of which came on the defensive glass), while shooting 9 for 11 from the field and hitting her first six shots in a row. 

“It felt good to finally get that done,” Cunane said. “But I feel like it’s also been great in these past games where I haven’t had to be the major production for the team. We’ve had people come in off the bench and our starters have done phenomenally, so I think it’s a really big tribute to say that I haven’t had to get a double-double yet and we’ve still been winning games. So I think that we’re really deep this year and we have a lot of strength around me.” 

Cunane showed off her ability to score from any area of the floor, finishing in the paint, hitting mid-range shots, and even swishing a 3-pointer from the top of the key. One of the most impressive parts of Cunane’s game is her dominance from the free-throw line. She hit all three of her foul shots Wednesday, bringing her to 19 for 20 on the season. Cunane’s willingness to attack the paint, which allows her to draw fouls, continues to pay dividends for the Pack. 

She was dominant in the first half, scoring 16 points and 10 rebounds on 6-of-6 shooting in the opening 20 minutes. Cunane reached the double-double mark with over six minutes to play in the opening half. 

“I thought she played really well,” said head coach Wes Moore. “At halftime she was 6 for 6 from the field. I was a little disappointed we had not gotten her the ball more, I kept stressing we need to get the ball inside, work inside-out and that is what we are built to do. Let people pick their poison, if they want to double her we have people that can knock down 3s, if they play her one on one, we feel pretty good about our chances with her doing that.”

Jones red hot heading into ACC play

Coming into this season, Kayla Jones figured to be a key figure of the Wolfpack’s starting rotation. She’s done that and then some, posting double figures in the last four games. 

Jones registered the first double-double of her career in last week’s big win over South Carolina, and she has had a knack for making big shots and big plays so far this season. She’s been able to do a little bit of everything – working inside the paint to score and also hitting shots from the perimeter. 

Jones put up 12 points and five rebounds against Elon. Over her past four games heading into ACC play, Jones has 55 and 31 rebounds and is shooting 58% from the field.  Last week’s ACC Player of the Week looks ready to roll for conference play. 

“She’s kind of the glue,” Moore said. “She does all the little things. She goes and gets big rebounds. KJ is a threat out there, she keeps the defense honest. When she gets a defensive rebound, I know our transition is fixing to take off because she does an awesome job of pushing the ball down the floor, keeping her head up. I’m seeing a lot of praises of Kayla Jones, her freshman year went through some growing pains, her sophomore year making the transition from single A basketball to the ACC. Last year, she was a big part of what we were able to do, and this year, she’s providing great leadership”.

ACC play up next

Everything wasn’t perfect, but the Wolfpack has to feel very good about itself heading into its conference slate. The team finished nonconference play at 5-0, and that included passing its biggest test with flying colors in a road win at then-No. 1 South Carolina. 

“I don’t know, it depends on the moment,” Moore said. “I’m glad we had the experience at South Carolina, obviously that’s the caliber of play you’re going to see in the ACC. We are going on the road to Boston College, a team that finished fourth in the ACC and will have a lot of their players back. I know they got beat today on the road, but we know that's gonna be a tough assignment. … We still have some things we need to do better. Hopefully these five games have helped prepare us but we have a long way to go.”

The Wolfpack’s starters are who we thought they were, and the team has good news on the injury front with Kai Crutchfield expected back soon and Jada Boyd possibly set to return by the end of the month. And the team’s young players, who will be relied on for minutes off the bench in conference play, earned valuable experience during the nonconference slate. 

All in all, this should be a confident group heading into Sunday’s ACC opener at Boston College. 

“I’m really excited to get into league play,” Cunane said. “The ACC is the best conference in the nation. We’re going to face really tough opponents every night. Finally getting to travel and see some familiar faces is going to be fun to play against them.”


 

 




 

 
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