Three NC State women's basketball seniors to return in 2021-22

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Published Apr 6, 2021

Three NC State women's basketball seniors to return in 2021-22

Justin H. Williams • TheWolfpackCentral

Staff Writer

@JustinHWill

Three NC State women's basketball seniors announced Tuesday they will return for a final season in 2021-22.

Wolfpack senior guard Kai Crutchfield, fifth-year senior guard Raina Perez and senior forward Kayla Jones all made it official that they will take advantage of the NCAA's decision to not count the 2020-21 campaign toward a winter athlete's four seasons of eligibility by returning for an additional year of college basketball.

All three will be returning starters for the Pack, who finished No. 7 in the final coaches poll after finishing 22-3 in the 2020-21 season, which ended with a 73-70 loss to fourth-seeded Indiana in the Sweet Sixteen.

Jones was NC State's third-leading scorer (11.9 points per game) and second-leading rebounder (7.1 rebounds per game) in 2020-21. She started in 22 of her 23 appearances last season but was unavailable in the Pack's final two contests in the NCAA Tournament due to a patella tendon injury she suffered in the first-round win over North Carolina A&T.

Perez transferred to NC State last summer from Cal State Fullerton, where she was named the 2019-20 Big West Conference Player of the Year. In her debut campaign with the Wolfpack, she started in 23 contests and averaged 9.5 points, 4.7 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game. She also finished second in the ACC last season with 118 total assists and led the conference with a 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Crutchfield started in all 23 contests in which she appeared and was the Pack's sixth-leading scorer, averaging 8.0 points per game. In addition, she averaged 3.2 rebounds and two assists per contest. The Raleigh native also shot a team-high 47.3 percent on three-point attempts.

All-American junior center Elissa Cunane, first-team All-ACC sophomore wing Jakia Brown-Turner and ACC Sixth Person of the Year sophomore forward Jada Boyd are also expected to return, which would mean each of the Pack's six players that averaged 20 or more minutes per game will be back.

As of April 6, NC State is expected to return its top eight scorers after claiming its second consecutive ACC Tournament title for the first time in program history in 2020-21.