NC State women's basketball racked up several conference accolades following the conclusion of the 2020-21 regular season. Four Pack players earned All-ACC honors, and the program also picked up two individual awards.
Wolfpack head coach Wes Moore was named ACC Coach of the Year by a vote of the league's head coaches. This marks the second time in his eight seasons at NC State that Moore has earned the accolade. He was unanimously named the ACC Coach of the Year by both the league's head coaches and the Blue Ribbon Panel at the conclusion of the 2016-17 campaign.
NC State is the only team in the conference to feature three first-team All-ACC players as voted on by the league's head coaches. (Ethan Hyman, The News and Observer)
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Two NC State players earned unanimous first-team All-ACC honors, and a third was named first-team by the league's head coaches. Junior center Elissa Cunane and sophomore wing Jakia Brown-Turner were the unanimous first-team selections.
Senior forward Kayla Jones also earned first-team honors from the league's head coaches and was named to the second team by the Blue Ribbon Panel.
NC State is the only team in the conference to feature three players on the All-ACC first team according to the league's head coaches. The Wolfpack and Virginia Tech were the only two teams to feature a pair of unanimous first-team selections.
Sophomore forward Jada Boyd also earned an individual honor. She was named the ACC Co-Sixth Player of the Year.
Fifth-year senior guard Raina Perez, who will return next season and pursue a graduate degree, was additionally named an All-ACC honorable mention by the Blue Ribbon Panel.
This season marks Cunane's second consecutive year as an unanimous first-team All-ACC selection. The 6-5 center was named third-team All-American by the Associated Press and US Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) in 2019-20. Cunane also earned All-ACC Freshman team honors in 2018-19.
Cunane is averaging 15.6 points (sixth in the ACC), 8.0 rebounds (seventh) and 1.0 blocks (14th) per game while shooting 55.7 percent from the field (second) and 86.3 percent at the free throw line (third). This week she was named as one of 11 semifinalists for the Naismith Player of the Year Award.
Jones and Brown-Turner earned All-ACC first-team honors for the first time in their careers. Brown-Turner and Boyd each were selected All-ACC Freshman teams honors last season.
Brown-Turner is 10th in the ACC in scoring (14.8 points per game) and seventh in field goal percentage (46.0 percent). She has scored at least eight points in every contest this year and in double-digits in all but two.
Boyd averaged 10.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game off the bench and has produced three double-doubles.
Perez was named Big West Player of the Year last season before she transferred to NC State from Cal State Fullerton this summer. She finished second in the ACC in assists per game (4.9) and led the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.8).
NC State, who finished the regular season 17-2 overall and 12-2 in the ACC, will look to earn back-to-back ACC Tournament titles for the first time in program history this week. The Wolfpack, who earned the No. 2 seed, will play the winner of the 7-10 game between Virginia Tech and Miami in the quarterfinals this Friday at 6:30 p.m. in Greensboro Coliseum on RSN.
