#12 Wolfpack Defeats Mean Green to Claim Rainbow Wahine Showdown Title

Sunday, December 1

Honolulu, HI

5PM

NC State

8-0,0-0ACC

North Texas

-35,00 CUSA

North Texas

NC State

#12 Wolfpack Defeats Mean Green to Claim Rainbow Wahine Showdown Title

12/1/2019 6:46:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score @packwomensbball

Elissa Cunane scores 24 points and grabs 19 rebounds in win

December 1, 2019

HONOLULU – The 12th-ranked NC State women's basketball team (8-0) claimed the tournament championship at the 2019 Rainbow Wahine Showdown on Sunday afternoon with a 76-65 victory over North Texas inside the Stan Sheriff Center.

The victory marked NC State's 35th non-conference tournament title in program history, the third under head coach Wes Moore, and the second in the last two seasons.

NC State was led by an incredible performance from center Elissa Cunane. The sophomore scored 24 points and collected a career-high 19 rebounds in the victory. She was joined in double figures by 13 points from Kayla Jones and 11 points from Kai Crutchfield. NC State shot 29-of-67 (.433) from the field and 11-of-30 (.367) from distance. The Wolfpack dominated the glass in the game, outrebounding North Texas 52-33 and scoring 22 second-chance points. NC State also shared the ball well, dishing out 18 assists against 15 turnovers. Freshman Jakia Brown-Turner led all players in both assists (6) and blocks (3).

N'yah Boyd led the Mean Green with 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting. She was joined in double figures by 11 points from Randi Thompson. NC State limited the Mean Green to 25-of-68 (.368) from the field and a 4-of-19 (.211) success rate from distance.

"It's been a longer trip than I anticipated it feeling like," NC State head coach Wes Moore said in his postgame radio interview with broadcaster Andrew Sanders. "We now have a long trip home and have a great team, Maryland, coming in on Thursday, so we're not quite out of the woods yet. It has been a grind, but I'm proud of the team for hanging in there. We still have a lot of things we need to clean up and get better at, but it's good to at least win and hopefully we can learn from winning without having to lose a game. This was a good trip. It was a long trip, but hey, four games and four wins, that's a pretty good trip."

NC State returns home for three straight games before the Christmas holiday. The Wolfpack will host ninth-ranked Maryland on Dec. 5, Elon on Dec. 15, and Chattanooga on Dec. 19.

"It is going to be a great challenge," Moore said of Thursday's B1G/ACC Challenge game. "Maryland is one of the top teams in the country and head coach Brenda Frese does a great job. I hope everyone will come out (to Reynolds Coliseum) for this one. Thursday night: Maryland, an old rival, one of the top five teams in the country; we are going to need everyone there and we need to fill up Reynolds Coliseum to make it a definite home court advantage."

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