Women's Wolfpack turns pink for breast cancer awareness

Once a year, Wolfpack red turns a lighter shade. A sea of pink crowded into the Reynolds Coliseum Sunday for the annual Hoops 4 Hope event promoting breast cancer awareness.

"To see all this pink, it means a lot," said Donna Privette, who lost both her parents to cancer.

Hoops 4 Hope was started by Hall of Fame women's basketball coach at North Carolina State University Kay Yow, who lost her battle with breast cancer in 2009.

That battle inspired many people, including beast cancer survivor Amy Davis-White.

"Kay Yow was just a huge inspiration for me to go on and fight," she said.

The Wolfpack, donning pink jerseys, took on Wake Forest for the Hoops 4 Hope game. Wake Forest won the game 70-57, but cancer survivors won at halftime.

They were honored in a special tribute on the court. American Idol Scotty McCreery sang during the ceremony.

"Cancer has affected a lot of people. I have cancer survivors in my family, and especially here at State with Jim Valvano and Coach Yow," McCreery said.

For N.C. State athletic director Debbie Yow, Kay Yow's sister, the event is "very personal."

"But it's no more personal for me than it is for anybody else in the building," she said. "Everybody in here, every single person, has been touched by this terrible disease cancer."