Raina Perez creating a legacy at NC State women's basketball

NC State women’s basketball coach Wes Moore did not know what to expect when Raina Perez agreed to transfer to the Wolfpack.

Moore knew that Perez was the Big West Player of the Year in 2019-20, leading the conference in scoring at 19.8 points per game. So impressive was Perez that voters were willing to overlook that Cal State Fullerton was sixth in the conference standings.

Truthfully, Moore was lucky that Perez’s brother heard the voicemail from Moore’s initial call.

“[Perez’s brother] was basically like, ‘Yeah, you should call them back. I think they had just been previously ranked eighth in the nation,’” Perez recalled. “So I was like, ‘Yeah, for sure I’m going to call them back.’

“And then I realized their point guard had just graduated, so I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is a great opportunity for me. What am I doing?’” 

Moore has been thanking his good fortunes every day since that call, especially since eligibility was frozen due to COVID-19 and allowed Perez to have an extra year in Raleigh.

“We thought on film she had wiggle,” Moore recalled. “She could make things happen and create things. But we didn’t have any clue what we were getting, obviously. … But just the way she came in, as she mentioned, we lost a point guard, we had everybody else back.

“It could have been tough. She just fit right in like she had been here for four years. Unbelievable kid, personality.”

It would have been hard for Perez to top her signature moment from last season.

NC State women’s basketball and Louisville were tied 56-56 with less than 10 seconds remaining. Perez, handling the basketball for NC State, set up a pick and roll with All-American center Elissa Cunane.

Initially, both Perez’s defender and Cunane’s hedged out to double team Perez, who was dribbling to her left around Cunane’s screen at the top of the key. As Perez quickly picked up her dribble and looked to pass to Cunane near the free throw line, both Louisville defenders shifted gears and in tandem moved to cover Cunane.

Perez almost seemed to switch plans in mid-motion of her pass. Instead of throwing the ball, Perez held it and quickly turned to shoot an open jumper. With 2.1 seconds left, Perez had put NC State in front with what proved to be the game-winner in the second of NC State’s three consecutive ACC Tournament titles.

Yet what happened Saturday afternoon in Bridgeport, Conn., ranks up there with her ACC title game heroics.

NC State was on the verge of losing a fourth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. After having a 16-12 lead at the end of the first quarter, NC State fell behind while Notre Dame made its first nine shots of the second quarter.

From that point forward, the Irish controlled the game. On multiple occasions they stretched the advantage to double-digit leads in the second half. With six minutes left, ND still was keeping NC State at arm’s length, up 59-51.

But this NC State women’s basketball has a history of pulling out wins from the jaws of defeat, and with 35.0 seconds left, Cunane stepped to the line with a chance to tie. However, her second free throw missed.

After a timeout and a couple of errant inbound passes knocked out of bounds by NC State, the Irish finally settled into a possession.

Notre Dame senior guard Dara Mabrey made the mistake of turning her back near midcourt at the wrong time on Perez, opening a lane for Perez to reach in from behind and take a swipe at Mabry’s dribble.

“The ball was still stuck on her hip, so I went for it,” Perez noted.

By the time Mabrey was able to start sprinting back, Perez already had several feet in distance between them on her way to an uncontested layup with 14.8 seconds left.

Suddenly, NC State, who had not led since 16-14 early in the second quarter, was winning 64-63. Two more Perez free throws with 1.5 seconds remaining sealed the final margin.

A relationship that started with a voicemail that Perez herself was not even the first to listen to and what was originally supposed to be a one-year transfer has turned into one of the most memorable NC State women’s basketball careers in Wolfpack history.

NC State fans have fallen in love with this team. Moore choked up thinking about how his players recently received a standing ovation leaving a team dinner at a restaurant in Raleigh.

Perez has played her part in that.

“We got so lucky, so fortunate,” Moore said. “… That show, ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’? It’s now, ‘Everybody Loves Raina,’

“It’s going to be a series for a long time, just unbelievable.”

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