Limestone University Basketball To Host "Play4Kay" On January 31

Join us as both the Limestone men's and women's basketball teams take on Catawba College on Wednesday, Jan. 31, at the Timken Center as part of the University’s “Play4Kay” event to honor warriors in the fight against all cancers affecting women.

“Play4Kay” is being hosted by Limestone’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. The women’s game tips-off at 5:30 p.m. and the men’s game gets underway at 7:30 p.m.

The national initiative was inspired by Kay Yow, a renowned women’s basketball coach at N.C. State University who lost her life to cancer.

Limestone University invites all the brave women who have fought any type of cancer to join us in the recognition ceremony during halftime of the women’s game, which will take place at approximately 5:50 p.m.

Additionally, for those who wish to participate in the recognition, there will be a Legacy Lounge event where food will be served.

Join us, wear pink, and honor our Saints who have been impacted by cancer.

Coach Yow was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987. She passed away in 2009, after a 22-year on-again, off-again battle with the disease. Coach Yow fought the battle in the public arena. Her hope was to inspire others to make a difference in a fight that impacts each and every one of us.

In her 38 years as a college head coach, Coach Yow was one of only six Division I women’s basketball head coaches to achieve 700 career victories. She guided her squads to 20 of 27 NCAA Tournaments, 11 trips to the Sweet 16, and a trip to the Elite Eight and the Final Four in 1998. Yow was part of an elite group of nine Olympic coaches chosen to lead USA Basketball in the pursuit of Olympic gold. Additionally, Yow became only the third women’s basketball coach in NCAA Division I history to coach 1,000 games with one program.

The 2006-2007 season, her 32nd with the Wolfpack, may have been the most tumultuous and most rewarding. Four games into the season, Yow was forced to take a leave of absence due to the progression of her breast cancer. In all, Yow missed 16 games before making a triumphant return to the bench for a Wolfpack win over longtime rival Virginia on Jan. 26, 2007. The team fed off the emotion that Yow returned with and won 10 of their next 11 games, which included her 700th career victory and a win over No. 2 North Carolina. On Senior Night, the Reynolds Coliseum court was christened the “Kay Yow Court.” Not to be outdone, two weeks later the Wolfpack downed the then unbeaten and top-ranked Duke Blue Devils in the ACC Tournament. With fans rooting for NC State from across the country, the club earned its 11th trip to the Sweet 16.

The Kay Yow Cancer Fund was officially founded on Dec. 3, 2007, fulfilling Yow’s vision to support advanced research, extend the quality of life for those battling cancer, serve the underserved, and unite people.