Widener’s women’s basketball team on Saturday will take part in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s initiative to enter the “Pink Zone” during its game against Lebanon Valley.
Tip-off at Schwartz Center is 1:00 pm, preceding the men’s contest against Lebanon Valley. Fans are asked to wear pink to show their support.
The Pride, participating in the “Pink Zone” a third straight year, will wear pink uniforms during the contest. The squad wore pink shooting shirts the two previous seasons.
Widener will donate proceeds from the games as well as additional contributions to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund, named for the late women’s basketball coach at North Carolina State University.
“Pink Zone” is a global, unified effort for the WBCA nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. More than 1,600 teams and organizations took part last season, up from 120 just three years ago, and raised over $1,300,000.
The Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund is a charitable organization committed to being a part of finding an answer in the fight against cancer through raising money for scientific research, assisting the undeserved and unifying people for a common cause. It was founded in 2007 in partnership with The V Foundation for Cancer Research.
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death for all women and the leading overall cause of cancer death in women between ages 20 and 59. In the United States, breast cancer is expected to be diagnosed every three minutes and a woman will die from breast cancer every 13 minutes. If detected early, breast-cancer patients have a greater than 90 percent survival rate.