Yow gets 700th victory
RALEIGH, N.C. – It was a night on which North Carolina State women’s basketball coach Kay Yow and her players could laugh with referees and discard perceived bad calls.
There was no reason to sweat the small stuff Monday night as the Wolfpack (17-7, 6-3 ACC), a team ranked 10th in scoring offense in the ACC, found an early shooting touch and cruised to a 68-51 victory over Florida State (17-6, 6-2) at Reynolds Coliseum.
Yet there was all the reason in the world for laughter, after all. It was Yow’s 700th career win.
In her 32nd season at N.C. State, Yow becomes just the sixth NCAA Division I women’s basketball coach to collect that many career wins. She joins Tennessee’s Pat Summitt, Texas’ Jody Conradt, Rutgers’ Vivian Stringer, North Carolina’s Sylvia Hatchell and former LSU coach Sue Gunter.
In typical Yow fashion, she deflected credit for the accomplishment and redirected praise to those in the N.C. State program.
“The 700th win, I accept that on behalf of all the former staff, current staff, former players and current team,” she said. “Of course, that could have never happened without all those people. I just happened to be the one person that’s been around for that long.”
Yow, 64, said she would celebrate the milestone by getting some rest. She said her players could party in her place. “They’ll go out and celebrate for me,” she said. “But not too much.”
State players might be too exhausted to party after pushing FSU up and down the court.
The Pack started the night with an 8-0 run and never looked back, shooting 50 percent from the field (14 for 28) in the first half and storming to a 24-point lead with 1:44 remaining in the opening period.
The Pack led 41-19 at halftime and surged to its largest lead of the game P 27 points P with 11 minutes remaining in the game.
In her seventh career start, 6-foot-7 senior Gillian Goring scored a team-high 19 points and snared 12 rebounds, posting her third double-double of the season.
Junior Khadijah Whittington added 14 points and six rebounds, while senior Marquetta Dickens chipped in 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
The Pack’s ziplock tight defense forced 17 turnovers, with 18 points coming off those take-aways. The Pack held the Seminoles to 36.7 percent shooting from the field.
In the end, after the Pack had applied defensive pressure without falling into foul trouble, the significance of the victory was not lost on players or staff.