Allegheny College Athletics

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Allegheny to Host “Think Pink” Weekend

February 7, 2008

MEADVILLE, Pa. – This weekend’s Allegheny College women’s basketball games will take on a new prospective, as the weekend’s contests are part of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) “Think Pink” program. The "Think Pink" initiative 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. In 2007, more than 120 schools unified for this effort and helped make the inaugural year of “Think Pink” a success. The 2008 initiative has already unified over 600 women’s basketball teams for the cause.

“Allegheny is honored to be taking part in the WBCA's ‘Think Pink’ initiative” said Allegheny College coach Kate Costanzo. “The NCAC is one of 20 conferences that have challenged all of their members to take part and we hope to use the weekend to raise awareness for breast cancer, support the research and development for a cure, honor those who have fallen, and celebrate survivors. The women's basketball community is large and can really make a big impact in the fight against breast cancer.”

All donations received at the game will go to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund, a charitable organization committed to help find a cure in the fight against cancer through raising money for scientific research, assisting the underserved and unifying people for a common cause. The foundation was launched on December 3, 2007 during the Jimmy V Classic. Kay Yow, the namesake of the fund, is the head women’s basketball coach at North Carolina State University. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987, and is currently battling the disease for the third time. In her 36 years as head coach at the collegiate level, Yow is one of only six Division I head women’s basketball coaches to achieve 700 career victories.

Friday’s contest in Meadville will also have a personal touch, as the teams and fans will take a moment of silence before the start of the game in remembrance of Pam Smith, legendary coach of Wittenberg women’s basketball, who passed away in June of 2007 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Smith, the North Coast Athletic Conference’s (NCAC) career leader in wins and win percentage, was honored earlier this season by Wittenberg, who named their gymnasium in her memory.

Fans for the games are encouraged to wear pink to the Friday tip-off time against Wittenberg at 6:00 p.m. at the David V. Wise Center, while Saturday’s contest against Earlham will start at 2:00 p.m.