North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Women's Basketball Rested, Well, Ready to Play
3/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
RALEIGH, N.C. – If ever a team needed a two-week break to rejuvenate itself from a challenging season, it is Coach Kay Yow’s 2006-07 Wolfpack.
A season that began with promise took a severe detour in November, when Yow took a prolonged leave of absence to undergo chemotherapy treatments for her recurrence of breast cancer. The Wolfpack stayed together through that trying time, winning 10 of 16 games under the direction of associate head coach Stephanie Glance.
It’s been a magical run since the Hall of Fame coach returned to the team on Jan. 25 against Virginia, with the Wolfpack (23-9) winning 10 of its last 12 games, including a three-game run in the Atantic Coast Conference Tournament in which the Wolfpack beat Florida State and previously unbeaten Duke before falling in the championship game to North Carolina.
Along the way, Yow became the sixth women’s coach to reach 700 career victories and had the court at Reynolds Coliseum, the home of NC State basketball since 1949, named in her honor.
But Yow’s team has not been at full strength all season long, with a long list of injuries and illnesses that has not only kept the coach away from her team, but forced players Gillian Goring, Chanita Jordan, Megan Zullo, Marquetta Dickens and Amber White to miss games because of various injuries.
So, by the time the Wolfpack ended its run in Greensboro, Yow’s team was fairly well spent, mentally and physically.
“We needed a break – most definitely,” said junior forward Khadijah Whittington, who was nursing two injured ankles and a split lip at the ACC Tournament. “It has allowed us to get our minds back and get set.”
It’s natural for a team on a roll like the Wolfpack has been on to want to continue playing, for fear that it might lose momentum. That thought never really crossed the minds of this team, after the emotional and physical rollercoaster it has been on this year. Even during the extended break, much of the team’s energy was focused on helping Yow deal with the loss of her father, who died Monday, the day the NCAA pairings were announced.
The team traveled to Burlington Wednesday night for the family’s visitation, and the funeral was Thursday morning.
Now, however, the Wolfpack is putting all the adversity of the season behind it and is ready to move forward, in the hopes of breaking its three-year string of first-round NCAA Tournament losses.
“For us seniors, we have said it every year that we don’t want to lose in the first round, but this year there is a little more attitude because of the season that we have had,” said Ashley Key.
No one on the current Wolfpack roster has ever participated in an NCAA Tournament win. The seniors hope, with nearly two weeks of rest for their tired legs, to change that at noon when the Wolfpack faces Robert Morris at the RBC Center.
“It’s like we are starting over,” Whittington said. “I think we will have the same intensity as before the break. The things we have been through, the things Coach Yow has been through, they haven’t changed. Coach Yow is still battling and we are still are motivated from that.
“We are still a good team.”
Indeed, the Wolfpack has the benefit of six senior leaders and has gotten remarkable production of late from senior center Gillian Goring, who has averaged 13.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks since being inserted to the starting lineup against Boston College on Jan. 11.
The soft-spoken Goring says the Wolfpack is
“Life is a lot of trials and tribulations, you always have hurdles you have to jump over,” said Goring, who has been bothered by knee injuries throughout her career and had preseason back surgery that forced her to miss the Pack’s first six games. “Being on this team with Coach Yow, she pushes you and inspires you to be your best.”
Robert Morris (24-7) won the Northeast Conference championship as part of its current eight-game winning streak to earn the school’s first trip to the NCAA Women’s Tournament.
The NC State-Robert Morris game at noon kicks off the first session of the four games at the RBC Center on Sunday. The second session begins at 7 p.m. with top-seeded Duke playing No. 16 seed Holy Cross. In between sessions, there will be a concert featuring the Embers on the front lawn of the RBC Center.
Tickets for both sessions are still available and can be purchased on-line here.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
