BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Despite a gut-wrenching Elite Eight loss to the No. 2-seeded Connecticut Huskies, there’s no doubt that the Wolfpack’s graduating class of senior center Elissa Cunane, graduate forward Kayla Jones, and graduate guards Kai Crutchfield and Raina Perez leaves behind a legacy which will be hard for any other graduating class to match.
That quad of players leaves behind three ACC Tournament titles, one ACC regular-season title, huge performances and clutch shot after clutch shot.
Cunane came to the Wolfpack in the 2018-19 season, immediately making an impact as a freshman and joining the starting lineup before the end of the year. Cunane is the two-time reigning ACC Tournament’s Most Valuable Player, and she exits the program with career averages of nearly 15 points and eight rebounds per game.
“What she’s done throughout her career here, [is] four straight Sweet 16s, three straight ACC championships, OK,” said head coach Wes Moore during a press conference on Sunday, March 27. “Before we won the ACC championship, it had been 30 years. I’m talking about the tournament. Before we won the regular-season championship this year, it had been 32 years, which I hate to even bring those numbers up.”
As impressive as Cunane’s on-court antics are, her presence off the court will be equally missed in Raleigh, according to Moore.
“But just in every way, she’s been — you wouldn’t believe some of the stuff,” Moore said. “She’ll go see a kid play high school or bitty league or something, just show up just to make them feel good. She’s been very active in our Pack United on campus. Just every phase, she’s such a great person. That’s what makes everybody follow her, because they know her heart is in the right place.”
Cunane will always be synonymous with the Wolfpack’s first-ever three-peat in program history and is bound to have a successful career in the WNBA.
“I’m just excited to have that next step available, and I’m just going to bring everything I can,” Cunane said. “NC State has made me into a great player, a great person, and instilled hard work into me. So I’m just going to carry that through basketball and just through the rest of my life.”
Crutchfield and Jones came to NC State in the 2017-18 season, both slowly evolving into leaders and heroes in Moore’s locker room and ultimately coming back together for the 2021-22 season, utilizing their extra years of availability.
Crutchfield earned the moniker “Clutchfield” for her heroics in late-game situations, especially across the last two seasons. In Saturday’s game, Crutchfield hit several big shots to help guide the Pack to its second-ever Elite Eight. Today, Crutchfield went out with 12 points.
“Yeah, I mean, you have Kai, who came in here as a little freshman,” Cunane said. “She’s been there for five years. She didn’t play much coming in freshman year. She battled for her spot. I couldn’t be prouder of how she performed her senior year and graduate year, I guess you could call it. So I think her transition and the way she stuck with this program means a lot.”
Jones was equally important for the Wolfpack and got out to a quick start in today’s game, picking up six points and four rebounds in the first quarter and finishing with 12 points, nine rebounds, three blocks and a big layup late in the game’s first overtime period to give NC State a lead.
Jones is the heart of the Wolfpack’s versatility, and though the Pack fell short of achieving its third goal as laid out by Jones earlier this year, she had a front seat to a third straight ACC title, regular-season title and an Elite Eight appearance, successfully avenging last season’s Sweet 16 loss.
“KJ stayed for five years,” Cunane said. “She didn’t play a lot coming in freshman year, and [Jones and Crutchfield] both just battled and fought through adversity, and they stayed with this program to end up here and to take us to two ACCs and take us to the Elite Eight.”
While Perez was only with the Wolfpack for two seasons, her mark on the program is equally unmistakable. Perez got one of the biggest steals in Wolfpack history against Notre Dame on Saturday, icing the game with a layup and sending the Pack to the Elite Eight. Perez is also responsible for her famous game-winner which gave NC State its second straight ACC title.
On Monday, Perez went out how she came in: a selfless teammate that looked to set up her teammates, as she finished with 10 assists.
“Raina coming in for just two years, she didn’t know what she was getting when she came for just one year and then got her graduate year too,” Cunane said. “The impact she had on this program was exceptional. She took us to new heights. I think every single person leaving this team has contributed a lot to it.”
Though the future of the Wolfpack program is sure to be solid, the legacy of Cunane, Jones, Crutchfield and Perez cannot be overstated.
“I want you to realize … what all these players have done for this program and the legacy they’re leaving,” Moore said Sunday. “I couldn’t be prouder, couldn’t be happier for them, to see where they’ve come from in the last four years. It’s pretty amazing, they’ve put this program on the map.”
