North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Basketball Officially Begins
10/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 14, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. - With practice for the coming season beginning this weekend, NC State women's coach Kay Yow is energized and optimistic.
From watching individual workouts, Yow believes she has a core group of players that will make the Wolfpack, which finished 21-8 overall and 10-4 in the ACC, one of the top teams in the conference this year.
"The thing is, we have a considerable amount of experience and talent on this team," Yow said. "Several players have had the chance to develop their bodies as far as physical conditioning and refine their basketball skills.
"They know what we are facing this year, and I think we all feel good about what this team can do."
There are some questions, however, that must be answered before the season begins on Nov. 18 in the season-opener against UNC-Greensboro.
First of all, three players enter the start of preseason practice recovering from injuries.
Senior point guard Tiffany McCollins is recovering from recent arthroscopic surgery on her left knee and is awaiting clearance from team doctors to begin practice. Senior guard Billie McDowell is still recovering from the torn ACL she suffered in last year's NCAA Tournament loss and also is awaiting doctors' clearance. And 6-7 junior center Gillian Goring is hobbled by a lingering ankle injury.
Yow hasn't exactly decided what she is going to do to replace veteran point guard Kendra Bell, a situation made a little more touchy by McCollins' injury.
But Yow sees a tremendous upside for her team, especially when she sees how physically fit senior shooting guard Rachel Stockdale is. Yow says that Stockdale, whose career has been affected by multiple knee problems, is in the best shape since her freshman year, before her first knee injury.
Junior guard Ashley Key will be asked to provide more leadership in a backcourt that is deep with talent, especially when McDowell returns. Yow believes juniors Marquetta Dickens and Keisha Brown could both have break-out seasons as shooters, based on what they have shown her during individual workouts.
Senior center Tiffany Stansbury, one of the key reasons for the Wolfpack's success last year, is set to team with sophomore Khadijah Whittington to give Yow's team a strong inside presence.
As for Yow, she's fit and energized for the coming season, even while she continues to battle her recurrence of breast cancer, which was discovered at the beginning of last season. She missed a couple of games last year while enrolling in a nutritional program in Denver, but sees no reason why she would miss any games this season.
She is halfway through a six-week follow-up radiation treatment, which includes daily 20-minute radiation sessions at Raleigh 's Rex Hospital . She exercises three-to-four times a weeks, and keeps close tabs on her diet and sleep habits.
"I feel really well right now," Yow said. "And I am excited about getting this season started."
Yow remains an inspiration to the other patients she sees every day during her treatment. And that's the reason she doesn't mind talking about what she's going through, even now as she is in her second round against cancer.
"I think I can be an encouragement to people, by just going on about my business, doing my thing," Yow said. "My life isn't stopping because I have been diagnosed with a disease. A person might have a disease, and you could die from something else while you are worrying about this. You do what you have to do.
"It's almost like coaching in a game: we will find a way. You do what you have to do. I like to think I am not going through the battle for nothing."
People tell Yow all the time that she is an inspiration. She has received so many cards, letters and mementos from people who pray for her health, people whose lives she has touched. She loves hearing that her public battle with the disease is an inspiration to others.
"It just encourages me to keep doing all the things I have to do," Yow said.
She also knows that she couldn't keep her battle with the disease private, even if she wanted to.
"If I just kept it to myself, it would be like the whole thing is about me," she said. "I have always been a team person, playing basketball and softball and other sports. There is a big team of people out there battling cancer."
And Yow is always looking for a way to help her team succeed.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
