Elissa Cunane, the main pain, as she takes over the lane, during N.C. State women’s basketball victory over North Carolina:Former Northern Guilford Nighthawk with 22 points and 17 rebounds to lift Pack over Heels

#8 NC State Earns 76-68 Home Victory Over Rival UNC

Elissa Cunane’s(Northern Guiflord High School) 22 points led the N.C. State Wolfpack, and she also hauled in 17 rebounds, just two shy of tying her career high. The double-double was her 11th of the 2019-20 campaign. The sophomore center entered the night tied with North Carolina’s Janelle Bailey for the conference lead in double-doubles on the year, and the performance put her atop the ACC in that category again.

from www.gopack.com:

RALEIGH – The No. 8 NC State women’s basketball team (19-1, 8-1 ACC) protected its perfect home record as it picked up a big rivalry win over North Carolina (14-6, 5-4 ACC) Sunday evening, defeating the visiting Tar Heels by a final score of 76-68 on Kay Yow Court at Valvano Arena inside Reynolds Coliseum.

After securing the victory inside a sold-out home arena, NC State moved to 12-0 on the season in games played on Kay Yow Court. The Pack has won its last 15 home contests, dating back to Feb. 28, 2019.

Four Wolfpack players scored 10+ points on the night – Elissa Cunane (22), Aislinn Konig (16), Kai Crutchfield (13) and Kayla Jones (10). NC State has won all seven games in which at least four members of its squad tallied double figures.

Shayla Bennett (24 points) and Taylor Koenen (21 points) both scored in double figures for the Tar Heels.

NC State led for 38:06 of the outing. The Wolfpack dominated the glass as it out-rebounded the Tar Heels 46-28 (+18), its largest rebounging advantage in conference play this season.

The team also continued to show off its threat from long range. NC State shot 10-of-21 (.467) from distance on Sunday night, which was its best three-point shooting percentage against an ACC opponent this year. It also marked the ninth time this season and the fourth time in ACC play that the Pack has hit 10+ threes as a team in a single game.

The Pack held a seven-point advantage (37-30) through 20 minutes of action after scoring seven of the last nine points of the first half. In the third quarter, the teams traded 7-0 runs before NC State opened up a lead as big as 13 points (58-45) with 1:40 remaining in the period. The Wolfpack held UNC to just one made field goal over the final 5:40 of the third quarter, but the Tar Heels remained consistent from the charity stripe in that span.

UNC hit back-to-back threes at the start of the fourth quarter to come as close as four (62-58) with 8:25 remaining in the game, but Konig responded with a pair of unanswered triples of her own to keep the Tar Heels at bay. UNC came no closer than eight points down the stretch.

NC State plays the first of three-straight road games on Thursday night as it travels to take on Clemson. Tip-off from Littlejohn Coliseum is set for 7 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on the ACC’s Regional Sports Networks.