Scarlet Knights guard Kaylah Ivey, named a Kay Yow Servant Leader, is dedicating the game to her great aunt who died of breast cancer
Kaylah Ivey and her Rutgers University women's basketball teammates are seeking more than a win in their upcoming game against the Washington Huskies: They will be highlighting the fight against cancer and honoring survivors.
Ivey is Rutgers' 2025-26 Kay Yow Servant Leader recipient, named for the North Carolina State University women's basketball coach who valiantly fought breast cancer for more than 20 years. The Play4Kay game, currently scheduled for Sunday, will celebrate approximately 100 cancer survivors on court at halftime in a darkened arena as they walk in lines marking the years they have battled the disease. The event raises money for underserved female cancer patients in New Jersey.
"The message to my team on that day is that we're playing for something much bigger than ourselves,'' said Ivey, a senior Scarlet Knights guard, who along with her teammates will add pink accessories to their white uniforms in tribute. "It's about showing up and fighting, just like those who had to fight much bigger battles than we're about to fight…We're with them in the fight; we're supporting them.''
Ivey and 64 other women's college basketball players nationwide were chosen to wear the Kay Yow Servant Leader patch on their uniforms. The award goes to student-athletes "who best embody the characteristics of Coach Kay Yow-people with a servant's spirit and a commitment to selfless leadership both on and off the court and athletic field,'' according to the organization's website. Other teams with awardees will play their own Play4Kay games.
"I feel blessed to be able to also wear that patch in her honor and … also lead by example through my team and in the community,'' Ivey said.
Yow, who coached the U.S. Women's basketball team to the 1988 Olympic gold medal, is enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. She died in 2009 at age 66 only weeks after taking a leave at North Carolina State, where she won more than 700 career games. "When life kicks you, let it kick you forward," Kow used to say.
Coquese Washington, Rutgers women's basketball coach and long-time Play4Kay supporter, will speak to survivors and other guests at a pre-game reception for the event. Waving pink pompoms, a procession of survivors -- "cancer warriors'' -- then will walk over to Jersey Mike's Arena, entering the court on a pink carpet.
Pink, the symbolic color to highlight breast cancer awareness, will be everywhere. At halftime, the arena's main lights will go dark as cancer warriors walk onto the dramatically lit court in lines marking the length of their battles. Fans will light and hold cell phones aloft in support, with survivors' family and friends bearing signs with the names of those they are remembering and supporting.
Ivey is dedicating Sunday's Play4Kay game to her great-aunt, Dawn Johnson, who died of breast cancer when Ivey was a young girl. She remains close to Johnson's daughter and her cousin's children. In December, Ivey visited pediatric and adult cancer patients at RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute, playing games and talking basketball with excited young patients, while being inspired by one woman's ability to achieve remission after a decade-long battle with cancer.
"It was just eye-opening to see how hard she had to fight and how she continued to stay with it when things got hard," Ivey recalled. "That gave me the strength to continue to push through whatever I'm going through because I watched that lady push through everything she's going through.''
For Rachel Botnick, a breast cancer survivor and mother of 14-year-old twin girls, Sunday's event will be extra special because for the first time she will join the line with those who have been cancer warriors for more than a decade.
"Ten years, cancer free, is a very large deal for anybody," said Botnick, who attended her first tribute game in February 2016 while in the throes of chemotherapy treatment and bald. "So, it's just symbolic of a lot-a hard-fought journey that didn't just end when the actual active treatment ended."
Botnick, an East Brunswick resident who is attending her tenth game-missing just one-since her June 2015 diagnosis, will be joined again Sunday by her daughters, Eliana and Isla.
"We are definitely a team," said Botnick, a special education teacher at a Jersey City high school.
"I love it, being there,'' said Botnick, who holds "a special place in my heart" for Rutgers and the Rutgers Cancer Institute. "The players are amazing to us. The fans are fantastic … When you battle something that really strips your dignity, to be spotlighted like that is really special.''
Heidi Rone, administrative assistant for university athletics' facilities who previously worked directly for the women's basketball team, also will attend Sunday's game. Joining Rone, a breast cancer survivor and mother of 27-year-old triplets, will be four friends who all were moms of Boy Scouts at the same time and now are fellow cancer warriors.
"We're there for each other," said Rone, a South Brunswick resident diagnosed in 2007, who credits Rutgers for an event that "celebrates people who have gone through a tough time in their life."
Rone, who assisted with game logistics while working for the team, is looking forward to "put on my badge of courage'' on Sunday and joining other inspirational women survivors on the court.
"I love the fact that they're not afraid to say that 'I had breast cancer,'" Rone said. "I'm proud that they went through what they did, what they can teach and what they can bring to other people. It's huge. It's a proud moment.''
