North Carolina State University Athletics
Elissa Cunane Named Candidate for 2021-22 Senior CLASS Award
12/7/2021 12:55:00 PM | Women's Basketball
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – NC State women's basketball senior Elissa Cunane has been selected as one of 30 NCAA women's basketball candidates for the 2021-22 Senior CLASS Award. The annual honor recognizes an NCAA Division I senior for their successes both on and off the court, focusing on their notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
Cunane is one of four candidates selected from the ACC, joining Morgan Jones (Florida State), Lotta-Maj Lahtinen (Georgia Tech) and Aisha Sheppard (Virginia Tech).
Amidst her fourth season as a member of the Wolfpack women's basketball program, Cunane is the most decorated player in the team's recent history as she continues her senior season.
Cunane was named an All-American by every major outlet (AP, USBWA, WBCA, ESPN) in both 2020 and 2021, and she was a Consensus First Team All-ACC honoree both of those seasons as well. Cunane entered her senior year as the ACC's Preseason Player of the Year and is also on watch lists for multiple National Player of the Year awards. The Summerfield, N.C., native was named 2021 ACC Tournament MVP after averaging 23.2 points and 9.0 rebounds to help lead the Pack to its second-straight title, and Cunane has also been a two-time finalist for the Lisa Leslie Award and the John R. Wooden National Player of the Year Award. She is the true centerpiece of the Pack's four-out, one-in system, and she averages 15.1 points, 8.0 rebounds and 54.3 percent shooting on her career.
Academically, Cunane is working on completing her undergraduate degree in Fisheries, Wildlife & Conservation Biology. She is a two-time All-ACC Academic Team honoree (2019, 2021) and most recently earned recognition as a 2021 CoSIDA Academic All-American following her junior year. She maintains a 3.34 cumulative grade point average and has been named to the ACC Honor Roll every year of her career and the Dean's List each of the last two semesters.
Cunane has also proven herself as a strong leader on and off the court for the Wolfpack. She plays an active role in Pack United, a student-athlete driven initiative that advocates for social justice and equity, through which she has helped lead discussions and demonstrations on NC State's campus and aided in planning and executing this year's Pack United football game. Cunane also volunteers at the local food bank and mentors middle school students in Raleigh. She was also the first woman to receive the Caulton Tudor Award in 2021, which recognizes the Triangle basketball player who is most cooperative with the media.
The list of candidates will be narrowed down to a field of 10 finalists in February, and those names will be placed on the official ballot for this year's award. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will determine the recipient of the award.
The winner of the 2021-22 Senior CLASS Award will be announced during the 2022 NCAA Women's Final Four in the spring.
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