Elissa Cunane had a flashback recently.
In it, she relived the victory against the state of Florida last March, which earned NC State its first ACC women’s basketball championship since 1991.
The dream was not a question of the All-American center trying to hold on to the glory of the past. Instead, she took that as a challenge to accomplish even more this season.
“Knowing this feeling of being on top of everyone, as if we were the best, it really motivates you to continue and play stronger and stronger,” said Cunane. “We know that it took a long time last year to reach the ACC Tournament and then win everything. It will be double this year. We really want to win, so let’s do everything we can to do that ”.
Wolfpack started 2-0 and came in eighth place nationwide after the first week of play in 2020-21. But Cunane and his teammates will need all the inspiration they can muster on Thursday when they travel to Columbia to face South Carolina, which is at the top of the ranking.
Gamecocks from coach Dawn Staley were 32-1 last season and, despite losing two major holders for graduation, they are once again loaded. They are also determined to bring home the national championship that they felt was denied when the NCAA Tournament was canceled by the coronavirus pandemic.
The clash between the top 10 on Thursday, which will be televised on ESPN2, represents an opportunity for the state’s rapid improvement program to take another step toward elite status.
Coach Wes Moore called it a win-win situation because regardless of the outcome, the game will serve as a valuable measure of the season’s start to see how far Wolfpack has moved and how much more it needs to go between now and the start of the season. post-season in March.
“It is a big challenge for us, but also an opportunity,” said Moore. “It will also be great to get that kind of game before we get into ACC. They will show you all your weaknesses. They will explore everything you need to improve. So this is how we have to look, go down there and evaluate ourselves, see where you are against one of the best teams in the country ”.
As attractive as the confrontation may be, it was not originally in the plans of either team when their 2020-21 schedules were first arranged.
This only happened after Wolfpack missed NIT’s canceled preseason games and a planned trip to the Bahamas. In need of a challenging non-conference test to help prepare his team for a strenuous ACC schedule, Moore called Staley, whose team was also looking to fill gaps in a schedule destroyed by COVID-19.
The result was a series at home and home that will also see South Carolina travel to Raleigh next season.
“It was a perfect fit,” said Moore. “South Carolina has trouble finding games now because, let’s face it, nobody wants to play them. So they were looking forward to playing. “
No one is more anxious for the confrontation than Cunane.
The six-foot-tall junior will face Aliyah Boston, equally tall for Gamecocks, last season’s national freshman and, like Cunane, one of the top contenders for this year’s Lisa Leslie award as the best center for women’s college basketball.
“I saw a lot of her in the film. She is a great player, ”said Cunane. “Her teammates do a great job of putting the ball in her, and she does a great job in quick turnaround moves, running around the court. She has a nice shot in the paint, as well as getting offensive rebounds. It will definitely be a big task to protect it. But it will also be a team effort ”.
The fact that Wolfpack has many other options besides Cunane – at both ends of the court – is one of the team’s strengths.
Six players – Cunane, veterans Kai Crutchfield and Kayla Jones, sophomores Jakia Brown-Turner and Jada Boyd and transferred Raina Perez – scored double digits in the first two games of the season, while a different player led the team in scoring and rebounds and assists in both wins.
“With us competing in practice, it definitely helps us to score against great defenders, regardless of who we play,” said Crutchfield, who scored 21 points, the team’s best mark, in his debut against North Florida and then led the way with six assists against NC Central. “It’s great to know that if you make that extra pass, you will have your teammate’s confidence that he will take you down.”