news-record.com

RALEIGH -- Stephanie Glance has been here before.

She stepped forward to lead the N.C. State women's basketball program when Hall of Fame coach Kay Yow took leave two years ago to focus on her health in her fight against cancer. So few people are better prepared to deal with Yow's decision this week to step away again, this time for the rest of the season.

That said, it doesn't make the pain any less.

"We're all very saddened," Glance said in a news conference Wednesday. "It's a very difficult time. As she's said so often, you cannot drown in self-pity. You have to swish your feet a little and get out. It's OK to feel sad and we feel sad, but we're going to swish our feet and do the best we can."

Glance, the program's associate head coach, now is the interim coach after Yow's announcement Tuesday that she would not return to the team for the rest of the year. Yow had missed the last four games due to an extremely low energy level, which her oncologist has said is a combination of factors ranging from the progression of the breast cancer she was first diagnosed with in 1987 to the demands of being a Division I head coach.

When the Wolfpack (8-7) travels to unbeaten and second-ranked North Carolina on Sunday, the players won't be playing with the uncertainty of when Yow might return anymore. Instead, they'll be playing to honor her even as they worry about her.

"It's a very tough situation," senior Shayla Fields said. "But I think the coaching staff and the players have handled it the best we can. I just think we've all been very positive and uplifting to each other."

Yow, 66, ranks as one of the game's winningest coaches with 737 career victories in 38 years.

She has also coached the U.S. Olympic team to the gold medal in 1988, and earned four ACC tournament championships, 20 NCAA tournament bids and an appearance in the 1998 Final Four.

When her disease first recurred during the 2004-05 season, she missed two games. She also missed 16 games to focus on treatment two seasons ago before returning to lead her team on an emotional late-season run to the NCAA round of 16.

Glance, who has been on Yow's staff for 15 years, led the program in Yow's absence each time.

"She can take great pride and peace in knowing that she has taught us well," Glance said. "She knows that our staff and our players will represent her and her spirit. She has to have confidence in that because she knows how much we all care about her and how much we love her and how much she's given to us over a long period of time.''