In her 32nd season at N.C. State, Kay Yow is yet again preparing to fight a tough battle with breast cancer.

Last week, she began treatment for the third emergence of the disease since she was first diagnosed in 1987.

Yow has emerged as a figurehead at the University during her tenure and, especially in light of the recent departure of coaches Herb Sendek and Chuck Amato, is one of the few familiar faces alumni can expect to see.

But Yow and her team have been surprisingly tight-lipped about the situation, in stark contrast to her highly visible past battles.

It’s times like these when it’s important for Yow and the entire women’s basketball team to remember the campus community will continue to support its coach during her battle with breast cancer.

Yow has worked to create something Sendek and Amato never could, a personal bond with the student body.

In the time it took her to accumulate her 696 wins, she has formed a family in the Wolfpack.

That’s why this pledge should go beyond mere words and promises.

Tonight’s game will be the first game at home since she and Athletics Director Lee Fowler announced that doctors detected a progression of the disease. It’s incredibly important that members of the University community show up to support the team at this game.

Packing Reynolds Coliseum full of screaming fans decked in red will send a clear message to the coach and her players that students, faculty, alumni and the community support Yow and her fight. It will also give the team more opportunities to raise awareness of the struggle millions of Americans must face everyday.

In her typical fashion, she said in a recent press release that she would like it better if fans focused less on her and more on other cancer patients and her team.

But she is worth far too much to her Wolfpack family for us not to throw our support behind her.

Yow has brought a legacy of triumph to N.C. State. It is time that we repay her for it.