NC State’s Elissa Cunane, Raina Perez waived by Seattle Storm ahead of WNBA season
The Elissa Cunane and Raina Perez reunion unfortunately didn’t make it past training camp.
The Seattle Storm announced on Monday that both former N.C. State players were waived.
Cunane, the 6-5 center from Summerfield, was a second-round pick (17th overall) of the Storm in last month’s draft. Perez, a 5-4 point guard, joined Cunane in camp as an undrafted free agent.
The Storm played two preseason games, with wins over Los Angeles and Phoenix.
Cunane played 14 minutes in the win over Los Angeles, finishing with three points. She had six points in 12 minutes against Phoenix.
Perez scored nine points against the Sparks and four points against her hometown Mercury.
In four years in Raleigh, the 6-5 Cunane left her stamp on the program. Cunane ranks sixth in school history in career points (1,855), seventh in double-doubles (34) and fifth in rebounds (986).
Cunane is the school record holder in made free throws (513). She played in 125 games for the Wolfpack, starting 101. A consensus All-American by the Associated Press in 2021-22, Cunane leaves Raleigh with a career average of 14.8 points per game and 7.9 rebounds while shooting 54 percent from the floor. Her senior season she averaged 13.7 points, 7.6 rebounds, on 53.1 percent shooting (182-of-343). Cunane shot 83.5 percent from the charity stripe (116-of-139) and averaged 1.3 assists per game.
She earned second team All-American honors from the AP and the USBWA. Cunane was a consensus first-team All-ACC honoree for the third straight year. In March she was named the ACC tournament’s Most Valuable Player for the second straight season.
Perez transferred to N.C. State ahead of the 2020-21 season. She averaged 9.0 points per game in two seasons, shooting 37 percent from 3.
Perez cemented herself in N.C. State history with two of the biggest plays in recent history. In 2021, Perez hit the game-winning shot in the ACC tournament title game against Louisville. In the Sweet 16 against Notre Dame, Perez got a steal and a layup with 14 seconds remaining to put the Pack ahead by one. She then hit two free throws to seal the win.
The WNBA season starts on May 6.
This story was originally published May 2, 2022 at 6:37 PM.
