Yow misses another game

N.C. State women's basketball coach Kay Yow missed her second consecutive game Monday afternoon as her team hosted Jacksonville State at Reynolds Coliseum.

Yow, who has coached with metastatic breast cancer since 2004, missed the Columbia game on Dec. 22 in New York. She said she was not feeling well and the severe cold weather worsened symptoms that were usually more tolerable. She returned with the team after a five-day road trip and met with her doctors last week.

In a statement released Monday, Yow said: "My energy level is still not where it needs to be to complete all of what is expected as the head coach of this program."

Yow consulted oncologist Mark Graham and talked with State athletic director Lee Fowler before making the decision to miss Monday's game.

Nora Lynn Finch, a friend of Yow's who spent three decades working as a women's administrator at N.C. State, told The Associated Press she spoke with Yow on Friday and that the coach had been battling chest congestion through the holiday season.

"When she was in New York, she got a lot of congestion and just doesn't seem to be able to shake it," said Finch, who now works for the ACC. "She has very little immune system, so things hit her harder than they do us."

Yow's absence at Columbia marked the first time she had missed a game since she took a 16-game leave of absence in November of 2006 to address a reoccurrence of breast cancer.

N.C. State plays Georgetown on Wednesday. Whether Yow will return then is uncertain.