Women's Basketball Thinks "Pink"

ELMS COLLEGE/BECKER COLLEGE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAMS "THINK PINK"

LEICESTER, MA, Feb. 9, 2008 - As part of a joint effort, the Elms College and Becker College women's basketball teams recently raised $414 for the Kay Yow/Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Cancer Fund.

The fundraiser took place during last Saturday's North Atlantic Conference (NAC) game at Becker.

As part of their efforts to raise awareness for breast cancer research, the two teams wore pink warmup shirts and both coaching staffs wore pink.

Last season, Elms College coordinated a similar event when it hosted Johnson State College and the two teams raised nearly $300 that was donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (http://www.komen.org/)

The WBCA's "Think Pink" initiative is a global, unified effort for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond.

The WBCA began "Think Pink" in 2007 as an initiative to raise breast cancer awareness in women's basketball, on campuses and in communities. In 2007, more than 120 schools unified for this effort and helped make the inaugural year of the WBCA's "Think Pink" a success.

The Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund is a 501 c(3) charitable organization committed to being a part of finding an answer in the fight against cancer through raising money for scientific research, assisting the underserved and unifying people for a common cause.

Kay Yow, North Carolina State University head women's basketball coach, is a past president and founding member of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), and a galvanizing voice for the Association. Yow was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987, and is currently battling the disease for the third time. In her 36 years as a head coach at the college-level, Yow is one of only six Division I head women's basketball mentors to achieve 700 career victories. Yow was also the head coach of the 1988 US Olympic Team that won the gold medal in Seoul.

The Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund was announced on December 3, 2007, during the Jimmy V Classic. The Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund, in partnership with The V Foundation for Cancer Research, will raise money in the fight against cancer. It was appropriate to announce this Fund during the Jimmy V Classic because of the connection between Jim Valvano, former North Carolina State men's head basketball coach, and Kay Yow, North Carolina State women's basketball coach.