News

I have been waiting to post anything. Ultimately, it is not my story to tell so I am always very cautious. I haven't talked to Steph personally yet. I will. Today was not the day to do that. I will not share details tonight because again, they aren't my details to share. But this was posted to the News-Leader website tonight.

Kickapoo basketball coach Stephanie Phillips stepping aside to focus on family, fight against cancer
Michael Stacy • January 27, 2010

After receiving a diagnosis Tuesday that her cancer has spread, Kickapoo High School girls' basketball coach Stephanie Phillips told her team this evening that she is stepping away from basketball to spend time with her family and focus on her fight against the disease.

Phillips has been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.She and husband Scot have two young sons, Drew and Levi."I just feel like I need some time away," Phillips said tonight, "to take a break from (the team) right now and from basketball and from all of that and just focus on me and my family and doing everything that I can do to get healthy."

Phillips, in her ninth season as coach of the Lady Chiefs, has a 201-37 record. She has led Kickapoo to two state championships, in 2003 and 2005.Missouri State women's coach Nyla Milleson, a former coach at Glendale High School and Drury University, has known Phillips for years. She praised Phillips — the mother and the basketball coach."I think the big thing now is your prayers and your thoughts go out to her and her family and her husband and two little boys," Milleson told News-Leader reporter Erin Bolen tonight while en route to the Lady Bears' game at Southern Illinois. "These kind of things put so many things into perspective. She's a wonderful mother and a wonderful person, and I just don't know what else you can say about her as a person."And she's got a tremendous basketball mind that's done so much for that team. I'm sure her team will rally around her, but I don't know what else you can do but to offer prayers."I'd known her for years," Milleson added, "but I was already gone from Glendale by the time she came back to Kickapoo. We've been friends and colleagues for a longtime."

MAKE NO MISTAKE. We are not giving up...just focusing on a new plan of attack. We will pray for a miracle and ask that you fall to your knees with us and do the same. We will continue to trust in the Lord our God with ALL our hearts. We will continue to praise Him in this storm.