Oklahoma basketball: OU women deliver huge win in aftermath of down season
By Chip Rouse
The women’s Oklahoma basketball program may have delivered its biggest win, after two consecutive disappointing losing seasons, off the court.
The Kay Yow Cancer Fund announced this week that the Lady Sooners were the Play4Kay National Division I BCS winner. The OU women’s program donated $2,500 to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. The money was raised independently by the Sooner players over the course of last season and was presented before the Feb. 16 Play4Kay game at Lloyd Noble Center with Kansas State.
The Play4Kay campaign was launched in 2007 and continues to grow steadily, raising funds to support women’s cancer research. To date the Kay Yow Cancer Fund has awarded nearly $8 million toward this goal.
The fund is named in honor of the former longtime head coach of the North Carolina State women’s basketball team (1975-2009). Yow was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987. She died from the disease in 2009, two years after the fund was launched.
OU head coach Sherri Coale has been very active in support of the Kay Yow Cancer Fund for a number of years. She has been a member of the Kay Yow Cancer Fund board of directors since 2012, and was awarded the 2019 Impact Award, honoring the individual or organization that best “exemplifies Coach Yow’s spirit, reflecting her grace, generosity and servant’s heart.”
Play4Kay is the Kay Yow Cancer Fund’s largest fundraiser, with events hosted in all 50 states.
The Lady Sooners finished the coronavirus-shortened 2019-20 season with an overall record of 12-18 and 5-13 against Big 12 opponents. The year before they won just eight times in 30 games.