FRESNO, Calif. — As the women’s basketball team sat in its hotel lobby Sunday morning, the realization that the season was over finally started to settle in.
During the team’s breakfast, coach Kay Yow silently ate with her nurse at the table and then took pictures with players and their family members.
Sunday entailed a lot more smiles and laughter than Saturday — a day which N.C. State lost 78-71 to Connecticut.
After learning about a delay in the Wolfpack’s flight back to Raleigh, Yow quietly sneaked away to the back corner of the room. There she found exactly what she needed: her sister, a place to sit and a television playing the Tennessee-Marist women’s basketball game.
She looked over at Susan Yow and didn’t have to say a word, the two smiled at each other and then turned back to the television.
One of the team’s staff members told Yow that Marist was losing to Tennessee by 21 at the half.
“Well,” Yow said with a smile as she shrugged her shoulders.
With all of the cameras, coaches and fans around Yow during the four-day trip, she appeared at ease with basketball in front of her.
Her team, which was now out of the tournament, had no more scouting and no more games to prepare for.
Its tournament run didn’t last as long as she or the players had hoped. State, a No. 4 seed, blew out No. 13-seeded Robert Morris in the first round. The team then squeaked past No. 5-seeded Baylor in an overtime thriller — defeating the Bears 78-72 behind junior forward Khadijah Whittington’s 23 points, a career high.
But Saturday’s game in Fresno, Calif., against the No. 1-seeded Huskies was a different story. The Pack, while holding a one-point halftime lead, fell apart early in the second half and could never fight back from an 11-point deficit.
In the press conference after the loss, Yow wouldn’t confirm or deny whether she would be returning next season.
Yow isn’t preparing as though this is it for her. After Saturday’s game, she said she is already looking toward to the off-season. She said she might not be able to spend a lot of time on the court, but she would like to work with the team in other ways.
“My part will be trying to talk to each of them and getting them sold on what they need to do,” Yow said after Saturday’s loss.
The squad will lose six seniors and will only return two starters — Whittington and sophomore guard Shayla Fields. The other six returning players are all freshmen.
Whittington, who will be the Pack’s lone senior next year, said this season taught her more than just basketball. As she talked about her veteran coach, Whittington had tears rolling down her face.
“There’s so many times when I feel like giving up, and then I see coach Yow and she never gives up. Sometimes it looked like we were down, but coach Yow, she still believed in us,” Whittington said after Saturday’s game. “It teaches you a lot about life, never giving up when you want something. Pursue it. That’s what I’m going to take from this season.”
