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RALEIGH — Kay Yow is headed west with her team, about four months after it left without her at the start of the long journey that has been N.C. State's most remarkable run.

In what a legion of State fans hope will not be her last game on the Wolfpack bench, Yow led N.C. State to a 78-72 overtime victory over Baylor in the second round of the NCAA women's tournament Tuesday night. State now goes off to California to continue a storybook season that shows no signs of ending.

On the day she was given the state's highest athletic award by the governor, Yow coached the Wolfpack deeper into the postseason than it has been in six seasons. State will play Connecticut in the Sweet 16 on Saturday in Fresno.

Although the story of Yow and her team has been inspiring, she said she's ready for this team to start getting the respect it deserves.

"This team's for real," Yow said.

Yow was subdued during the game, allowing her assistants to do much of the screaming. But in the timeout huddles, the veteran of 32 N.C. State seasons took over.

Her team, wearing pink shoelaces in her honor, took their coach's words to heart and wore down the 2005 NCAA champions.

Yow, a Gibsonville native, was diagnosed with cancer in November and missed much of the season undergoing treatments. The team now has won 12 of 14 games since its coach returned and is 25-9 for the season. Yow was asked if there were any chance she wouldn't be able to make the trip to Fresno.

"There is no chance," she said, her voice strong and clear.

Her players said it was clear in the huddle as she drew up the biggest play of the game, a 3-point shot by the same player who had missed two free throws at the end of regulation.

Shayla Fields ran off a screen and found herself wide-open, just as she was on the chalkboard during the timeout. She hit the deep shot from just in front of the State bench with 46 seconds left in overtime and clinched the victory, which set off a wild celebration at the end of a long week for Yow, who buried her father last Thursday.

She talked about Hilton Yow after the game, comparing how she and her untrained assistants dealt with injured players to her dad's complaints in the hospital about the care being administered by his daughters.

State's players fought through leg cramps and stomach cramps, almost all wore knee braces or tape on their wounds, and more than one left the game for aid in the locker room.

"It's like my daddy said one time when I took care of him in the hospital," Yow said. "He wanted to know why he was paying a big hospital bill and he had amateurs taking care of him. That was me and my sisters."

The remarkable story of Yow and this season now will leave North Carolina.

The team will make its longest trip of the season since road games back in November at Arizona and California-Santa Barbara. Yow didn't make that trip, having learned the Tuesday before Thanksgiving that the cancer first diagnosed 20 years ago had returned.

Her life since then has been a draining schedule of chemotherapy treatment, rushed visits to the hospital in ambulances, and finally, basketball. She'll go to California with her players and her assistants and a legion of supporters, including doctors and nurses. She said almost nothing could keep her from making the trip.

"I'd have to take a real turn here in the next day or two," Yow said. "I've got one day to stay ready to travel."

Earlier in the evening, she received the state's Laurel Wreath Award, the highest honor for athletic achievement in North Carolina. Gov. Mike Easley presented the award before the game in front of the home crowd.

"All of you are an inspiration, and you have brought great pride on your team, N.C. State University and our state," Easley said. "You have been a great tribute to your coach. She has led by example, especially this year, showing all of us that when we face adversity, we can overcome it by determination with grace to achieve success."

Yow, 65, said afterward that the emotional season has been an inspiration to her, too. But a day before another round of chemo treatments and two days before the team is scheduled to leave for a trip to the Sweet 16, the coach said it's time for the team to be recognized for what it has accomplished.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin@news-record.com