Almost always with a big smile on her face, and the way she has been playing as of late for State, Elissa Cunane is “The Big Smile”, and she in turn, is bringing Big Smiles to the faces of N.C. State fans, and with numbers like these, you can see why everybody is ready to SMILE….Here is the story on State, from Sunday in Miami……
Elissa Cunane(Northern Guilford High School) led all players on the floor with 19 points, shooting 8-of-10 from the field in the performance. The senior center stuffed the stat sheet in the win and added five rebounds, a season-high three assists with zero turnovers and a season-high four blocks.
from www.gopack.com:
#5 NC State Secures 76-64 Road Win at Miami
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The fifth-ranked NC State women’s basketball team (14-2, 5-0 ACC) remained unbeaten in 2021-22 ACC action as it defeated Miami (7-5, 0-2 ACC) by a 76-64 score inside the Watsco Center on Sunday afternoon.
The win was the Pack’s fourth in a row over the Hurricanes, and its 13th in a row over a conference foe dating back to last season. NC State is 5-0 in ACC play for the second season in a row and the third time in the last four seasons.
Elissa Cunane(Northern Guilford High School) led all players on the floor with 19 points, shooting 8-of-10 from the field in the performance. The senior center stuffed the stat sheet in the win and added five rebounds, a season-high three assists with zero turnovers and a season-high four blocks.
Diamond Johnson (16 points) and Kayla Jones (11 points) also scored in double figures with solid all-around games of their own. Jones shot 3-of-4 from long range, marking the most threes she’s hit in a game this season, and dished out six assists without turning the ball over. Johnson led the team in steals, with her four tying her season high.
Jakia Brown-Turner added a stellar four-assist, zero-turnover mark. In total, the team assisted on 21 of its 29 made baskets, with each of those four players dishing out three or more dimes.
NC State shot 54.7 (29-of-53) from the field as a team, marking its third-highest shooting percentage of the 2021-22 campaign and its best in conference play thus far. Despite Miami’s success hauling in offensive rebounds, the Wolfpack limited Miami to 36.4 percent (24-of-66) shooting. The Pack shot 50+ percent in the final three quarters of the game.
NC State went into the break with a three-point (35-32) advantage, its narrowest halftime lead of the season. After trading runs with the Hurricanes in the first quarter, the Wolfpack jumped out to multiple seven-point advantages in the second quarter, but Miami hit a three late in the period to stay within one possession.
Miami scored on its first two possessions of the second half to quickly jump back in front (36-35), but the Wolfpack responded and scored 14 of the next 19 points to stretch its lead to as many as eight points (49-41) in the third quarter. The Pack hit eight of its 11 third-quarter shots (.727) to help build up its advantage.
After leading by five (56-51) going into the fourth quarter, NC State was once again able to withstand some pressure from the Hurricanes in the final 10 minutes of action. The Pack outscored the Canes 20-13 in the fourth quarter, hitting a pair of clutch triples and completing a pair of three-point plays to gain momentum. The Pack limited Miami to one basket from the floor in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, and that helped the team build up a 10+ point lead that it held onto the majority of the final five minutes of the game.
NC State stays on the road for its next contest as it makes the trip to Charlottesville, Va., to take on the Cavaliers on Thursday, Jan. 13. Tip-off from John Paul Jones Arena is set for 7 p.m., and the game will be streamed live on ACCNX.