SpringfieldNewsSun.com

Grief is a strange and unpredictable emotion.

Just when you think you've conquered it, grief springs upon you from out of the dark recesses of a seemingly unrelated circumstance or unexpected situation — threatening again to devour you.

For Wittenberg women's basketball coach Sarah Jurewicz, grief jumped from the unspoken to the unavoidable upon hearing the news of the passing of North Carolina State coaching legend Kay Yow on Jan. 24. This just hours before an important North Coast Athletic Conference game with Ohio Wesleyan.

Memories of the pain of the loss of Wittenberg coaching legend Pam Evans Smith, her collegiate coach and personal mentor, just 19 months earlier flooded Jurewicz's heart and mind again. That Smith and Yow valiantly fought the same disease, breast cancer, made the news hit home even harder.

"It was really overwhelming actually," Jurewicz said. "I saw it just before stepping into the a shoot-around, on the ESPN scroll across the bottom.

"That was tough, walking into the gym (Pam Evans Smith Arena) named after her after hearing that."

The coach in her made Jurewicz decide not to tell her team until after the game, one which the Tigers rallied to win 73-72 on a last-second shot.

"It was a big game for us without having that extra information," Jurewicz said. "But I felt there was a little extra confidence and an extra will to win."

Jurewicz is the connection between Yow and Smith, speaking at the April 2008 Women's Basketball Coaches Association convention about her memories of her legendary mentor.

"It was really inspiring," said Jurewicz of meeting Yow. "I was moved by her passion for the cause, and her outlook on life considering what she was battling and knowing it was out of her hands.

"She knew as long as she was going to be here, she was going to help people."

That was very familiar philosophy to Jurewicz.

"Just a little bit," she said with an knowing chuckle, eluding to Smith's impact. "That's probably the only way to endure it with some sanity. Fight for things that will distract you from your personal fight. I think that's what kept her going for so long."

Jurewicz did tell the team after the big win.

"They were very solemn," she said. "They could imagine how that team felt. We decided as a team to send cards and sympathy thoughts — to let them know we are thinking of them, but that we know what they have been through.

"We want to participate in their transition. It is a long transition. I still have players this year who have struggled with the changes, and it is understandable.

"There are times when they get caught off guard with the memories. But most times, it makes them smile. What a testament to a person, that she still makes them smile."

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0364 or krowe@coxohio.com.