The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1419104
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 ■ 39 2021-22 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PREVIEW BY JUSTIN H. WILLIAMS ixth-year senior guard Raina Perez is not the most physically imposing player when she steps on the court. In fact, at 5-4, she's the shortest player on the team in a sport that values height. But her unsuspecting appearance isn't fooling anyone in the ACC this year. She put the entire league on alert when she hit the final shot of last year's conference tournament. In the final minute of the championship game, NC State was tied 56-56 with top- seeded Louisville. Prior to that point, Perez wasn't having her best shooting perfor- mance. She had made just 2 of 8 attempts from the field, including a 1 of 7 mark from beyond the arc. With the ball in her hands for the final possession, Perez produced with the con- fidence of a player shooting closer to 90 percent. Louisville's defense sold out in the post to prevent the Pack's star senior center Elissa Cunane from getting an easy go-ahead bucket. On a play designed to get the ball to Cunane, Perez identified the double-team, faked a pass down low to create separation and nailed a 17-footer from the top of the key to give the Wolfpack a one-possession lead with about two seconds remaining. After a Louisville timeout, Cardinals star guard Dana Evans missed a desperation heave as the buzzer sounded in Greensboro Coliseum, giving the Pack back-to-back ACC Tournament titles for the first time in program history. Months removed from the excitement of victory, fans still celebrate the shot when- ever they see Perez around Raleigh. Of her 86 field goals last season, it's by far the most memorable considering the stakes of its result. "It's changed what it's like to walk around campus," Perez said. "It's crazy. We went to a football game as a team, and as we were going to the student line to scan our tickets, this group of guys pointed over to me as the girl that hit the ACC game-winner. "It's just crazy how different it is. At the time, I thought it would be a moment that passed by. But people are still remember- ing it and bringing it up. It's kind of surreal how much recognition you get even months later after doing it, and how people still remember it." There was much more to remember about Perez last year than her late-game heroics in the conference title showdown with Louisville. She was among the most efficient point guards in the country on one of the nation's best teams. Her assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.62 not only led the ACC, but it also ranked eighth in the nation among players with at least 100 assists. Perez produced a total of 118 helpers in 2020-21, which ranked second in the conference and 34th nationally. Running the point guard in head coach Wes Moore's system is the most demanding role on the floor. The now ninth-year Wolf- pack coach expects near perfection from his floor general, but it's something Perez knew she was signing up for before she arrived in Raleigh as a graduate transfer. "He has to know that he can trust you to make the right decision, to make the right path, to basically be perfect every single play," Perez said. "It's hard. At point guard, you realize you have to be almost perfect. He always asks me what I see out there. As a point guard, you're the coach on the floor. You're the leader. "Talking to Coach Moore before I com- mitted, I knew he wanted more for this team. He thought that if I came to NC State, I could help this program out and kind of push us over the ledge to go deeper into the NCAA Tournament, into the ACC Tournament. It was just a winning pro- gram, and I liked that about NC State." Perez never fit the prototypical mold of a future Division I basketball player. She was typically one of the smallest kids in her class, but that didn't stop her from enjoying the basketball gym at a young age. She credits her younger brother for where her love of the game comes from. Separated in age by less than one year, Perez and her brother grew up playing to- gether on the pick-up court and in youth rec leagues. "I was so comfortable playing with my brother," Perez said. "I never really strayed away from being on the same team as him." By the time Perez made her middle school basketball team, she realized the sport wasn't just a fun game she played with her siblings. It was her craft, and she wanted to compete at the highest level possible. She dominated her way through high school competition, but her lack of size limited her list of offers to play in college to mid-major schools. The Goodyear, Ariz., native originally played at Northern Arizona, where she ap- peared in every contest and averaged 10.1 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. Then, she transferred to Cal State Ful- lerton, where after redshirting, she became one of the program's most decorated players. In 2019-20, Perez was named the Big West Player of the Year after leading the league in scoring with an average of 19.8 points per game, which ranked 14th nation- ally, as well as 5.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists per contest. She averaged double figures both sea- sons she played at Cal State Fullerton, but after her breakout redshirt junior season, she had her choice of Power Five programs to choose from after entering her name in the transfer portal. And she's still writing the history of her time at NC State after picking the Wolfpack in the summer of 2020 and then taking ad- vantage of the NCAA's COVID waiver to return for a sixth season. After hitting one of the biggest shots in the program's history in March, Perez has still yet to play before a sold-out crowd at Reynold's Coliseum. Now, pandemic permitting, she'll get that opportunity this season with a blockbuster season-opening matchup against South Carolina. And based on what her teammates have told her, she can't wait for that moment to arrive. "Everyone's just been telling me how packed it gets," Perez said. "How loyal our fans are and how loud it gets. It's going to be fun. I'm used to seeing 25, 50 people in the stands. They tell me to expect Reynolds to be full." ■ S " It's kind of surreal how much recognition you get even months later after doing it, and how people still remember it. " Perez on her game-winning shot that clinched the ACC championship