The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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32 ■ THE WOLFPACKER 2020-2021 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PREVIEW Filling the gaps the seniors left behind won't be the only challenge for the Pack this season. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented its own set of obstacles in college athletics. Contrary to some forecasts this summer, ACC football, for example, has been able to reach the midway point of their fall seasons despite the virus. But with smaller roster sizes compared to that sport — not to men- tion going from outdoors to indoors — bas- ketball teams will face their own challenges as they try to get through the winter season. "With COVID, everything's a little bit more fluid," Moore said. "You just don't know what's going to happen from day to day and you hope that you can avoid any set- backs. You see what's happening in football across the country and you realize we've got a lot of hurdles to face. "You take it one day at a time and try to prepare the best you can and hope we con- tinue to get better as the year goes on." On the hardcourt, the Pack will go from the hunter to the hunted. Following three consecutive seasons with at least 25 wins and top-four ACC finishes, NC State will see the best of its opponents every night. "I don't think we're going to sneak up on anybody, that's for sure," Moore admitted. "There's a lot of great teams in this confer- ence, we were fortunate to get hot and our players really stepped up in Greensboro [at last year's ACC Tournament]. It was a really special weekend. It was a special memory and I wanted it for those players, I wanted it for those seniors, but I also wanted it for these fans. It made it really special. "Now you erase the board and start over. Each year is different. Each year you get a little bit different pieces to work with and last year's chemistry was unbelievable. We've got to try to capture that again this year, and so far I like it, but we've got to see if we can handle it through adversity and over the long haul." Elissa Cunane Is The Center Of Attention In just two seasons, junior center Elissa Cunane is already one of the most accom- plished players in program history. After averaging a team-high 16.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, she was a unani- mous first-team All-ACC selection and be- came the first player in school history to earn higher than All-America honorable mention from the Associated Press, when she received third-team honors. 2020-21 NC State Women's Basketball Roster No. Name Ht. Pos. Yr. Hometown 0 Rebecca Demeke 6-0 G Fr. Toronto, Ontario Ranked as the No. 2 player for her position and the No. 8 overall player in Canada by Crown Scout Girls Basket- ball, Demeke competed with Team Canada at the 2018 FIBA U17 Women's Basketball World Cup. She was also a 2019 BioSteel All-Canadian Girls Team honoree. 1 Genesis Bryant 5-6 G Fr. Jonesboro, Ga. A four-star recruit in the 2020 class that was ranked as the No. 11 point guard and No. 46 overall senior nation- ally by Prospects Nation. She was a McDonald's All-American Game nominee and a two-time 6A first-team All-State selection by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2018 and 2019. 2 Raina Perez 5-4 G 5th-Sr. Goodyear, Ariz. Transferred this offseason from Cal State Fullerton, where she was named the 2020 Big West Player of the Year. She ranked 14th nationally with 19.8 points per game, ninth with 613 total points and fifth with 239 made field goals last season. 3 Kai Crutchfield 5-9 G Sr. Raleigh Started 31 of the Pack's 32 contests last season and averaged 7.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. She tallied a career-high 23 points in NC State's win over Texas. 5 Jada Boyd 6-2 F So. Petersburg, Va. Prior to her freshman season, head coach Wes Moore compared her to former NC State 1,000-point scorer and double-double machine Chelsea Nelson. Boyd quickly lived up to those expectations with 18 points and 11 boards off the bench in her first game, and will have more opportunity after being the team's sixth player last season. 11 Jakia Brown-Turner 6-0 W So. Oxon Hill, Md. Joined Boyd on the All-ACC Freshman Team after starting 31 of the Pack's 32 contests. She averaged 9.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, while her 36.8 three-point shooting percentage ranked fourth among all fresh - men in Wolfpack history and her 301 points ranked 13th. 15 Kendal Moore 5-6 G So. Fayetteville, N.C. Moore played in 15 games last season as a reserve point guard and had a season-high five points against North Carolina A&T. 20 Elle Sutphin 6-3 F R-Fr. Pilot Mountain, N.C. A five-star recruit that was ranked the No. 10 power forward and No. 39 overall recruit in the country in 2020 according to ESPN HoopGurlz, Sutphin moved up a year and signed with NC State in 2019 to take a redshirt season. She averaged 21.9 points and 9.3 rebounds per game while leading East Surry High School to the state title game in 2018-19 and was named to the USA Today first-team All-North Carolina squad. 24 Dontavia Waggoner 6-0 G Fr. Nashville, Tenn. Waggoner was named Ms. Tennessee Basketball in 2019 and was a Division 2 All-American as a senior in high school. She was a four-star recruit according to ESPN and was ranked the No. 8 guard and No. 35 overall recruit nationally in the 2020 class by Prospects Nation. 25 Kayla Jones 6-1 F Sr. Jamesville, N.C. Averaged 10 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game as a junior last season. She posted five double- doubles, and scored a career-high 17 points in back-to-back games against Louisville, which finished the year ranked sixth nationally, and Georgia Tech. 31 Jada Rice 6-4 C R-So. Suwanee, Ga. Played in 22 games as a freshman and averaged 3.4 minutes per outing, prior to redshirting last season. Com - ing out of high school, she was ranked the No. 57 overall recruit in the land by Prospects Nation. 33 Elissa Cunane 6-5 C Jr. Summerfield, N.C. A year after being named a top-five finalist for the Lisa Leslie Award, annually given to the sport's best center, Cunane will look to build upon a campaign where she posted top-30 national finishes in double-doubles (tied for 26th, 14), defensive rebounds per game (29th, 6.9), field goal percentage (29th, 54.7), free throws made (14th, 159) and total rebounds (tied for 27th, 308). 41 Camille Hobby 6-1 C So. Jacksonville, Fla. The 2019 Florida Miss Basketball played in 20 games and averaged 6.2 minutes per contest as a freshman. Senior forward Kayla Jones started every c o n t e s t l a s t y e a r and reached double figures in 19 of 32 g a m e s w i t h f i v e double-doubles. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS