Photo by: Michael Furman

Female athletes across the country will play in honor of the late women’s basketball icon Kay Yow this week.

The women’s basketball team will once again include themselves in this tradition of playing in a “pink game,” which  supports survivors and victims of breast cancer.

This year the “pink games” are being played in honor of the former North Carolina State coach, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987 and struggled with the disease while coaching until she died on Jan. 24, 2009. 

DU’s women’s basketball assistant coach Yvonne Hawkins, director of basketball operations Chris Brann and head coach Erik Johnson all coached in the ACC and got to know Yow personally.

“The grace and courage with which she handled her battle with cancer made her impact on all of us even more profound,” Johnson said. “At BC we actually played at NC State for their ‘think pink’ game twice in the last years of coach Yow’s life. Needless to say, the emotions surrounding those games were beyond powerful and are experiences I will never forget.”

Yow finished her career with the fifth most wins in the history of women’s college basketball. However, she leaves behind a much larger legacy.

“Having the survivors out there with us and knowing that we are raising money for things much bigger than just a basketball game helps our players keep a proper perspective on what we do,” Johnson said.

The national “pink games” offer a unique opportunity to not only honor coach Yow, but others that have lost their lives from the disease, in addition to raising money for research through the Kay Yow Foundation.

The importance and meaning of these games are not lost on the players and coaches.

“I have lost a very close loved one to breast cancer and I believe that anything to bring attention to this disease and honoring those who have fought it is extremely important,” sophomore Kaetlyn Murdoch said. “This game is very important to me.”

DU enters the game after snapping a five-game losing streak last Saturday with a win over North Texas (7-18, 4-11 SBC).

In order to extend the winning streak to two, the Pioneers will have to beat Arkansas Little Rock (20-5, 13-1 SBC) a team that has won 15 consecutive games.

“Little Rock is the toughest, most disciplined defensive team that we will play against,” Johnson said. “On offense, they are also one of the best ball-control teams in the nation.”

“In order to beat them, we need to be patient, poised and limit our mistakes better than we have in previous games,” Johnson said.

In a game played for a greater cause than usual, the Pioneers must maintain their focus on correcting the mistakes that have proven costly in losses.

“We need to focus on our own skills and taking care of the ball offensively and being an unstoppable unit on the defensive end,” Murdoch said. “What has hurt us the last couple games is our turnovers, and I think if we are able to eliminate those we will be successful.”

Clarion reporter Joe Kendall contributed to this report.