Elissa Cunane(Northern Guilford HS) leads N.C. State Wolfpack women past Virginia Tech:Cunane with 28 pts./9 rebounds for Pack/Elizabeth Kitley(Northwest Guilford HS) has 11 pts. for VA Tech

#9 Wolfpack Moves to 13-0 with Gutsy Win Over Hokies

RALEIGH – The ninth-ranked NC State women’s basketball team (13-0, 2-0 ACC) overcame an early double-digit deficit to remain perfect on the season as it defeated visiting Virginia Tech 76-69 Thursday evening on Kay Yow Court inside Valvano Arena at Reynolds Coliseum….Virginia Tech now at (10-3/0-2) for the season…

Elissa Cunane, from Northern Guilford High School, with 28 points and 9 rebounds for the N.C. State Wolfpack, while we saw Liz Kitley, from Northwest Guilford High School, with 11 points and 3 rebounds for the Hokies, from Virginia Tech…Plus you had Cayla King, also from Northwest Guilford High School, with 3 points and 1 rebound for VA Tech….

Elissa Cunane was tough down the stretch for the Pack, from N.C. State, as Cunane hit the lane hard and she hit key field goals and free throws in the last 2 minutes of this game, that helped put the Pack on top to stay…The game was tied at 67-67 and then Elissa Cunane hit two key free throws, then she hit a layup and this game saw N.C. State move ahead and take a lead they would not surrender..

This game was very tight until that last two-minute time frame and that is when N.C. State was able to take over the game, behind the work of Elissa Cunane…Cunane was really stepping up her game in this key ACC home game for the Wolfpack, on the Kay Yow Court, inside the Jim Valvano Arena, at Reynolds Coliseum, in Raleigh….

Let’s look at how the Elissa Cunane train was rolling along for N.C. State on this Thursday night in Raleigh…
Cunane goes/plays 37 of the game’s 40 minutes, and she went 9-15 from the field, she was 1-2 from three-point range, and there was nothing plain about Cunane’s game at the charity stripe…Elissa Cunane goes 9-11 at the free throw line, so overall she was 9-15 from the field and 9-11 at the line…That takes her shooting way over 50% for the evening…She also added 3 assists, a block and a steal for good measure…

It is not my call, but I will go ahead and give her the Player of the Game award for N.C. State’s win over the Virginia Tech Hokies here on January 2…Lots of focus and taking care of business by Elissa Cunane and her Wolfpack tonight….

N.C. State Wolfpack head women’s coach Wes Moore talking with Pack radio play-by-play man Patrick Kinas after the game said, that Elissa Cunane took full advantage of her opportunities tonight…

Wes Moore said, “Elissa got on roll and she led us in this basketball game…That is what I expect my players to do…When your number is called, it is time to step up and with the way Elissa was playing tonight, that is why we kept going back to her…When it is working, you stick with that approach, and Elissa Cunane was on her game tonight and again, that is why we stuck with her.”

Coach Wes Moore said all of his players on the Wolfpack women’s squad will get a similar chance to do what Elissa Cunane was doing tonight, and it will be up to them to step up and get the job done, just like Elissa Cunane did in Thursday night’s basketball game.

More on this game coming in later on from www.gopack.com…

Here are the other portions on tonight’s VA Tech at N.C. State game from GOPack.com:
After trailing since the 7:07 mark of the first quarter, NC State re-gained its first lead in nearly 22 minutes of game action when Kayla Jones knocked down the second of her three third-quarter triples with 4:44 remaining in the third quarter. The basket came in the midst of a 10-0 run that eventually pushed the Pack’s lead to eight points.

A back-and-forth start to the final quarter gave Virginia Tech a three-point advantage with 3:11 remaining in the game, but the Pack’s defense managed to shut down the Hokies down the stretch. NC State held Virginia Tech to 0-of-9 from the field over the final two and a half minutes, and five Elissa Cunane free throws in that same span sealed the victory for the Pack.

Cunane led the Wolfpack in scoring as she tied her career high of 28 points, 23 of which came in a big second half for the sophomore center. She was joined in double figures by Aislinn Konig (18 points), Kai Crutchfield (12 points) and Jones (11 points). Jones tallied the third double-double of her career as she led collected a team-leading 11 rebounds on the night.