Notebook: Pack earns second top-ranked win, defeats No. 1 Louisville 74-60

For the second time this season, No. 4 NC State women's basketball defeated the No. 1 team in the country on their home floor Monday night.

This time, the Wolfpack throttled No. 1 Louisville 74-60 in the KFC Yum! Center.

The meeting was originally set to be a matchup between the two top-ranked teams nationally before the Pack slid to No. 4 Monday morning after losing its first game of the season last Thursday, an 83-71 overtime defeat to Virginia Tech.

NC State didn't have its top scorer and rebounder last week in Blacksburg, however.

Junior center Elissa Cunane returned to the lineup Monday for her first game in nearly a month after a program outbreak of COVID sidelined the team for the first half of January. The Wolfpack star was one of the positive COVID cases herself and had to sit out for an additional two games in accordance with ACC protocols.

"[Sophomore center] Camille Hobby did an awesome job for us in the loss; it was not the sole reason for us losing, but it was great to have Elissa back," NC State head coach Wes Moore said after the Louisville win. "Now with Elissa, you can feel confident putting Camille Hobby in also, and that's going to keep Elissa … fresher. Thirty minutes [per game], I think, is a good target.

"She was basically off for three weeks. A lot of it was just based on feel. In the first half, we got her out a couple of times. She did look a little winded, but adrenaline can do a lot of things for you too. When we were going down the stretch, I think she was pretty locked in."

Any potential rust she may have had wasn't noticeable. The 6-5 Naismith candidate, nicknamed "The Big Smile," tied for a team-high 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting. She also had six rebounds and two assists.

"In the first half, I came out and I was feeling it a little bit, but as soon as the game got going, I was good," Cunane said. "In the second quarter, I had my energy up. It was good the rest of the game. The first quarter hit me a little bit, but now we're good."

The win Monday marked Cunane's first career victory over the Cardinals, who have at least tied for a share of the ACC regular-season title in each of the past three campaigns.

Last year, Louisville defeated NC State 66-59 in Reynolds Coliseum. Had it not been for a shocking Florida State upset in the semifinals of the 2020 ACC Tournament, the Cardinals would have faced the Wolfpack in the conference championship last season in Greensboro.

"We're always kind of rivals with Louisville because we're always at the top of the ACC competing against them," Cunane said. "We want to be the best, so we had to come out there and beat them in order to be the best."

This time last season, fifth-year senior guard Raina Perez was bullying her way through the Big West at Cal State Fullerton on her way to the conference's player of the year award. One season later, she played a huge role in lifting the Wolfpack to a road win over the No. 1 team in the country for the second time this season.

"That's why I came here to NC State — to play in these big games, to compete against the best," Perez said. "Like Elissa was saying, if you want to be the best, you got to beat the best. They were No. 1, so we did what we had to do. I'm excited to be here."

Perez led the Pack with 10 first-half points and finished the night with 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including a 3-of-7 mark from behind the three-point line.

She added three rebounds, three assists and one steal, and also led the team with a plus-18 margin in the 36 minutes she was on the court.

"She's been doing amazing," Cunane said. "Those couple threes she hit in the first quarter were clutch. They really got our energy going. She's really been able to just control this team, handle the ball up top, know what to run offensively. She just did a great job controlling the game and controlling us."

+15 Was NC State's rebounding margin Monday night in the win over Louisville. The Wolfpack outrebounded the Cardinals 44-29. The Pack also outpaced UL 13-6 on the offensive glass and outscored the Cards 11-3 on second-chance opportunities.

13 Of the Pack's 44 rebounds were reeled in by senior forward Kayla Jones. Jones, who is NC State's second-leading scorer this season behind Cunane, didn't have her best night offensively, scoring five points on 2-of-10 shooting. The veteran leader did come up big for State on the glass, however. Her 13 rebounds, four of which were on the offensive glass, led the team and marked a season high for Jones.

50 Percent of NC State's field goals came off of an assist. The Wolfpack finished the night with 14 assists compared to just six from the Cardinals. Jones led the team with four assists, while Perez and sophomore guard Jakia Brown-Turner each had three.

32:23 Is the amount of time the Wolfpack led Louisville in the KFC Yum! Center. After tying the first quarter 18-18, NC State won each of the final three quarters and outscored the Cardinals 56-42 in the last 30 minutes.

4 Pack players scored 15 points or more Monday night. Cunane, Brown-Turner and sophomore forward Jada Boyd each tied for a team high with 16 points and Perez added 15. Boyd also finished the game with nine rebounds.

3 Teams in women's college basketball history have defeated the No. 1-ranked team in the AP Top 25 Poll twice in one season according to ESPN Stats & Info. The Wolfpack is the only team out of those three to earn both wins in the regular season and also the only squad to claim both on the road.

"We've got to continue to get better. These great teams that we're trying to associate with at this point, they're going to be better in March than they are now. We got to make sure that we're doing the same thing. That's my focus, getting better.

"As a coach, when you lose, you think of so many things you should do better. You look in the mirror, wake up at three or four in the morning and can't go back to sleep thinking about it. What we've got to do is make sure those things that we're trying to do to get us to there, we stay grounded for."

— NC State head coach Wes Moore said when asked about national championship hopes for the Wolfpack this season.

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