Kay Yow, coach of the North Carolina State University women’s basketball team since 1975 and a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, passed away Saturday morning after a two-decade battle with cancer. She was 66 years old.

A press release issued by NCSU said that Yow died peacefully at 6:40 a.m. at WakeMed Cary Hospital.

Yow won four Atlantic Coast Conference Championships and led NCSU to the 1998 women’s Final Four, but her legacy stretched far beyond Raleigh. She cemented her legend internationally when, in 1986, she coached the United States national team to its first victory ever against the Soviet Union. A year later, Yow was diagnosed with breast cancer but she persevered to lead the U.S. to an Olympic gold medal in 1988, beating the Russians again in the process.

In the years since, Yow inspired millions with her fight against breast cancer. With her cancer in remission, Yow devoted much of her time and energy to raising money to fight the disease. She became involved in the V Foundation for Cancer Research, which was started by former NCSU basketball coach and athletics director Jim Valvano, who had been Yow’s boss and close friend in the years before he died of cancer in 1993.

Yow also derived strength from her Christian faith. The closest thing she ever had to a scandal was when she smuggled some bibles into the Soviet Union while coach of the U.S. national team. A prolific and talented speaker, Yow delivered many of her talks to church groups around the world.

In 2002, Yow became the fifth female coach to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Two years later, her long-dormant cancer returned, forcing her to miss several games while undergoing treatment.

Yow returned to the sidelines, only to be forced off the bench again in 2007. When she returned later that season, her team responded with a close win over No. 2 ranked North Carolina on the night NCSU named the court at Reynolds Coliseum “Kay Yow Court.”

Inspired by their coach’s fight, the Wolfpack women produced one of their best seasons in years, upsetting undefeated and No. 1 ranked Duke to reach the championship game of the ACC Tournament, then giving No. 1 seed Connecticut a serious scare before falling in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament.

Yow continued to coach in 2008, regaining strength and growing back some of the hair she lost to chemotherapy treatments. But this time, the cancer would not go into remission and Yow began to miss games just before Christmas.

On Jan. 6, NCSU announced that Yow would not coach again this season. She checked into WakeMed Cary Hospital, where she was visited by her team earlier this week.