Pack keeps chin up

Players persevere, look ahead as Yow misses fourth game

South Carolina escaped Reynolds Coliseum on Sunday with a 56-55 victory over N.C. State's women's basketball team, using a last-second layup to heap disappointment on a Wolfpack squad that had thought it had done enough to rally in the second half.

Clearly heartbroken, State team members spoke after the game with the familiar, even-keeled, forward-looking sentiment of Kay Yow, their head coach, who in those situations never reacts too high or too low.

Yow missed her fourth consecutive game on Sunday, yet her presence was felt by players and coaches left to tend to the business of basketball in her absence.

"It was a tough loss but we have more games," N.C. State junior guard Nikitta Gartrell said. "We're just going to have to put it behind us. We still have practice. So every practice we're just going to have to get better and stronger."

In a sense, those around Yow say she's out to do the same as she tries to return to the bench since missing her first game this season on Dec. 22.

Coaching with metastatic breast cancer since late 2004, Yow missed that game against Columbia in New York after not feeling well enough to coach. It was the second game of a five-day road trip and temperatures had dipped into the low 20s. In a statement, she said that severe weather conditions worsened normal symptoms that are usually more tolerable.

Since Yow's return to Raleigh, she has said that her low energy levels have prevented her from coaching. Her return has been called a "day-to-day" decision. It will be Yow's decision when she returns, though she is expected to release a statement about her plans later this week.

Yow's oncologist, Dr. Mark Graham, said in an interview on Saturday that Yow has not been hospitalized during her four-game absence and "there hasn't been any radical change in her status" as a person with stage four breast cancer.

"Right now general fatigue from her breast cancer is keeping her from all the activities," Graham said. "She's really of the mind that she doesn't want to coach unless she can do all the activities fully."

Graham said Yow's medical team has recently made various changes to her treatment program. Since the start of the season, he said Yow has received hormonal therapy as part of her treatment -- a choice that in general present fewer side effects for cancer patients.

He said Yow has not received chemotherapy treatment since the start of the season. He said with cold temperatures like there were in New York a "lot of symptoms can be magnified."

Yow has taken this recent time away from her team to rest at her Cary home. She listens to State games on the radio, though has not watched game film.

On Saturday, she went for a ride with associate head coach Stephanie Glance.

"She was feeling better," said Nora Lynn Finch, ACC associate commissioner for women's basketball and long-time friend who spoke with Yow by phone.

Glance and a veteran staff of coaches and personnel have formed a cocoon of support around Yow. She speaks with Yow by phone constantly and visits with her daily.

In her 15th season at State, Glance has developed a deep personal and professional relationship with the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame coach. She said Yow's been in good spirits, operating as close to normal as possible. They talk basketball, but no more than usual.

"I just don't know when you would ever see her down," Glance said. "We've never seen it."

Glance said Yow remained positive during the 2006-07 season when she had to take a 16-game leave of absence. The Gibsonville native, 66, and in her 34th season at State, maintained a positive outlook even through her lowest points, on those days when only she knew how low her white or red blood cell counts had dropped.

Glance said Yow, who coached through the 2007-08 season without any leave of absence, is not the type of person who talks much about the way she's feeling. She said they will know she's better when she walks into her Reynolds office and prepares for practice.

"The most telling thing to me is she's been here all that time," Glance said. "So if she's not here right now, it's because she doesn't have the energy to be here. If she did she would be here.

"I don't think that statement has as much impact because I don't think people have realized how much she's pushed through to be here for the past two years. They don't know that she's actually been pushing for a long time to do what she's been doing."

Though Yow is at the center of everyone's focus, Sunday's loss will not be easy for State to swallow. In the second half, the Pack did everything but stop South Carolina's Demetress Adams from driving from half court into the lane and scoring a left-handed layup as the buzzer sounded. They had two fouls to give and Glance had called a timeout before the final play to remind players to foul. It was another lesson in a season of growing pains for a young team.

State (8-7) opens the ACC season on Sunday as it travels to Chapel Hill for No. 2-ranked North Carolina. Players will continue to get daily updates on Yow from Glance and will continue to end practice with a prayer for their head coach. She is always with them.

"We're just inspired by her to play harder," State sophomore Tia Bell said.