Raina Perez

Raina Perez (born July 30, 1998) is an American professional basketball player who is a free agent in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played college basketball at NC State, Cal State Fullerton, and Northern Arizona.

Raina Perez
Personal information
Born (1998-07-30) July 30, 1998
Goodyear, Arizona, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Listed height5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Career information
High schoolMillennium
(Goodyear, Arizona)
College
WNBA draft2022: undrafted
Playing career2022–present
PositionGuard
Career history
2022Seattle Storm
Career highlights and awards
  • Big West Player of the Year (2020)
  • All-Big West First Team (2020)

College career

Northern Arizona

During her freshman season, Perez was one of four players on the team to appear in every game. She averaged 10.1 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 2.3 assists. At the end of the year, Perez was the top scoring freshman in the conference.[1]

Following her freshman season, Perez decided to transfer to Cal State Fullerton.[2]

Cal State Fullerton

Perez spent three years at Cal State Fullerton. She redshirted during the 2017–2018 season due to NCAA Transfer rules. During the 2018–2019 season, Perez was named to the All-Big West Honorable Mention Team.[3] She tied for the team lead in scoring at 13.0 points, while also adding in 5.0 assists and 1.5 steals.

During her junior season, Perez was a dominant player for the Titans. She increased her averages to 19.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.2 assists.[4] Her play was recognized by the Big West, as she was named the Big West Player of the Year and to the Big West First Team. She was the first Titan player to win the Player of the Year Award since the 1990–91 season.[5]

After the season, Perez transferred to NC State.[6]

NC State

During her first season as a member of the Wolfpack, Perez was named to the All-ACC Honorable Mention Team.[7] She averaged 9.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 4.7 assists, while starting in 23 of the games. She was also a Top 10 Finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award, which honors the nation's best point guard.[8] She hit the game-winning shot in the ACC Tournament Final to help NC State win their second straight ACC Title.[9]

Perez came back for her COVID-Extra Year and helped guide the Wolfpack to the NCAA Elite Eight. She averaged 8.6 points, 3.1 assists, and 1.1 steals, while starting all 36 games. Perez also once again was clutch in late-game situations - this time in the NCAA Tourney. Perez got a steal and layup with 14 seconds left against Notre Dame in the Sweet Sixteen to put NC State up in the last seconds.[10]

College statistics

[11]

Year Team GP Points FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2016–17 Northern Arizona 29 290 .369 .286 .857 2.0 2.1 0.6 0.2 10.0
2018–19 Cal State Fullerton 29 377 .421 .317 .806 2.5 5.0 1.4 0.0 13.0
2019–20 Cal State Fullerton 31 610 .462 .350 .820 5.2 4.2 1.6 0.2 19.7
2020–21 NC State 25 237 .473 .353 .820 3.4 4.7 0.9 0.0 9.5
2021–22 NC State 36 311 .441 .386 .917 2.7 3.1 1.1 0.1 8.6
Career 150 1825 .434 .335 .829 3.2 3.8 1.1 0.1 12.2

Professional career

Seattle Storm

Perez went undrafted in the 2022 WNBA draft, but signed a training camp contract with the Seattle Storm.[12] She was waived on May 2, 2022, during camp.[13] Perez was brought back on May 11, 2022, as a hardship contract with the Storm.[14]

WNBA career statistics
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader

Regular season
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2022 Seattle 102.0.000.000.0000.01.00.00.00.00.0
Career 1 year, 1 team 102.0.000.000.0000.01.00.00.00.00.0

References
  1. "Raina Perez". nauathletics.com. NAU Athletics. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  2. Robin, Brian. "After losing 2 key players, Cal State Fullerton's Harada rebuilds". The Orange County Register. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  3. "2018-2019 Big West Women's Basketball Honors" (PDF). Big West Conference. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  4. "Raina Perez". fullertontitans.com. CSFullerton Athletics. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  5. "Raina Perez is Big West Player of the Year, Taylor Turney and Carolyn Gill are Honored". fullertontitans.com. CSFullerton Athletics. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  6. Scott, Dana. "Former Millennium standout Raina Perez transfers to NC State from Cal State Fullerton". azcentral.com. AZ Central. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  7. "ACC Women's Basketball Announces 2021 Award Winners". Atlantic Coast Conference. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  8. "Raina Perez Named One of 10 Finalists for Lieberman Award". gopack.com. NC State Athletics. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  9. "Raina Perez's late jumper leads NC State past Louisville for ACC women's hoops title". ESPN.co. ESPN. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  10. Negley, Cassandra. "'Everybody Loves Raina': No. 1 NC State squeaks by No. 5 Notre Dame with late steal to reach Elite Eight". sports.yahoo.com. Yahoo. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  11. "Raina Perez Stats". ESPN. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  12. "Perez Accepts Training Camp Invite from WNBA's Seattle Storm". gopack.com. NC State Athletics. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  13. "ROSTER UPDATE: Storm waives guard Raina Perez and center Elissa Cunane". Twitter. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  14. "Perez signs with Seattle". si.com. SI. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
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