NC State women's basketball prior trip to Final Four went through UConn

Former NC State women’s basketball coach Kay Yow never cussed out her players when they were doing something they weren’t supposed to, as all who knew the devout coach can certainly attest.

But she sure, by heck, fussed them out when they needed it.

And that’s what she did over two days in the middle of March 1998.

She took one of her most successful teams at NC State to Dayton, Ohio, for an NCAA Championship Sweet Sixteen appearance, something that was not unfamiliar to the Wolfpack women’s program, but one of those plateaus that Yow and her teams had never advanced past in eight previous trips.

So when NC State upended top-seed Old Dominion in their region opener and the players began to celebrate a little too much, Yow let them have it, with as good a fuss-out as they had ever received.

The next day, the NC State women’s basketball team didn’t respond any better, even when Yow pulled out the exact same “your dreams are right there in front of you, make them a reality” speech she gave to her 1988 USA Basketball Olympic team right before it played the Yugoslavia National Team for the gold medal in Seoul, South Korea.

When the Pack fell behind by 10 points five minutes into the second half against the heavily favored Huskies in Dayton Arena, she let them have it again.

Yow wasn’t profane, Heaven forbid, but she was angry, thinking her team was just satisfied by getting the program’s inaugural Sweet Sixteen victory. They had forgotten all about defense, rebounding and All-America forward Chasity Melvin.

What happened over the next 10 minutes was one of the most important segments in NC State women’s basketball history. The Wolfpack defense forced six consecutive turnovers. It rebounded Connecticut’s misses. And it put the ball in the hands of Melvin, the Roseboro, North Carolina, native who had developed into a star during her four years under Yow’s coaching.

Melvin scored eight of her 18 points and most of her team’s points during a 14-0 second-half run that disposed of Geno Auriemma’s third-ranked and second-seeded Huskies, advancing Yow to her only trip to the NCAA Women’s Final Four. Melvin also had 11 rebounds in the game.

“That was such a special season, and a special time for the seniors on that team,” Melvin recalled recently. “Going to the Final Four was something we all wanted to do for Kay Yow. It was something she deserved for all she had done for the game.”

Technically, even as competitive as she was, Yow never dreamed of taking her team to the Final Four. She never played college basketball and began her coaching career under the guidelines of the old Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), with its unusual devotion to district, state and region championships instead of a competitive national championship.

“I’ve always said if I never reached it, coaching is still where I should be,” Yow said about her career ambitions. “That’s where the Lord placed me. It’s working with young people and helping them to be the best players and team they can be. It’s helping ensure they get their degrees and grow as people.”

There was no question she did that well for more than three decades at Elon and NC State. But everyone associated with the program wanted to see her advance to the next level. Yow just wanted to make sure the players on that 1997-98 NC State women’s basketball team didn’t let an opportunity get away from them.

 “I didn’t want them to settle for just being there [playing against UConn],” she said following the game. “We have an opportunity. We don’t have to talk about what we can do next year. We have it now. It’s in our hands.”

One of the reasons the Pack was in that position was a strong roster of upperclassmen, most of whom were recruited by one of Yow’s experienced assistants, a former head coach at Maryville College who wanted to learn the ins and outs of coaching at a high Division I program.

His name was Wes Moore, and he was on Yow’s staff from 1993-95. After two seasons, he left for Francis Marion (1995-98) and Chattanooga (1998-2013) before returning to assume Yow’s old job in 2013. 

Now Moore finds himself in a similar position of wanting more than an NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearance. Moore has won three consecutive ACC championships and now reached four consecutive Sweet Sixteens, both unprecedented in program history, but he and his players have clearly stated they wanted more this season than their previous trips, when they lost to Mississippi State in 2018, Iowa in 2019 and Indiana last year.

Each of the four seniors—graduates Raina Perez, Kai Crutchfield and Kayla Jones and senior All-American Elissa Cunane — all seized the opportunity to return so they could make that happen.

This weekend they head to Bridgeport, Connecticut, with that as a goal. ACC-foe Notre Dame, the only league team to beat the Wolfpack this year, and the winner of the Connecticut-Indiana game are what stand in their way.

Maybe Moore can recycle Yow’s Olympic pregame “Grab Your Dream” speech one more time to make those dreams a reality.

Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at [email protected].

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