Earlier this year, former South Carolina basketball assistant coach Nikki McCray-Penson passed away after a second battle with breast cancer. McCray-Penson coached for nine seasons with Dawn Staley in Columbia before becoming the head coach at Old Dominion. After success in Norfolk, Virginia, she returned to the SEC as the leader of the Mississippi State Bulldogs program.
Her first bout with breast cancer was when she was part of the South Carolina basketball program, but she did not miss much time. Several years later, the horrible disease re-surfaced and took her away from her new head coaching gig at Mississippi State.
Amidst this fight with cancer, she returned as an assistant with Rutgers before being forced to leave the team as her health declined.
On Wednesday, the University of South Carolina announced that the Gamecocks would take on Rutgers in an October exhibition game in honor of the deceased McCray-Penson. The game will be played in Columbia at Colonial Life Arena on October 22nd at 1 PM. Admission to the game will be free to the public.
The exhibition will also include a fundraising effort that will support In the Middle, a Columbia-based non-profit that helps support women battling breast cancer and their families. While the game will not have an admission fee, donations to the cause will be appreciated.
McCray-Penson wasn’t just a well-respected coach in the world of women’s college basketball. In fact, she was one of the best players to ever play the game.
A two-time SEC Player of the Year while playing for the legendary Pat Summitt at Tennessee, McCray-Penson went on to win two Olympic gold medals for Team USA, was the ABL’s MVP, was a WNBA All-Star and was voted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
Nikki McCray-Penson was just 51 at the time of her passing.