ABILENE – The ACU Wildcats will participate in the Women's Basketball Coaches' Association campaign to raise awareness in the battle against breast cancer next Saturday when they host Angelo State at Moody Coliseum.
The Wildcats and Rambelles will tip at 2 p.m. in a pivotal Lone Star Conference South Division contest. But both teams will be participating in the WBCA Pink Zone campaign, an initiative to raise awareness about the severity of a disease that claims more than 40,000 lives in the United States each year.
Both teams will wear pink as part of their game-day uniform and game administrators will also wear pink. Fans will have a chance to make a donation either at the gate or during the game with all proceeds from those donations going to the Abilene Alliance for Women and Children.
The WBCA began the WBCA Pink Zone, formerly known as "Think Pink", in 2007 as an initiative to raise breast cancer awareness in women's basketball, on campuses and in communities. Kay Yow, former North Carolina State University head women's basketball coach, served as the catalyst for the initiative after her third reoccurrence of breast cancer in 2006.
In 2007, more than 120 schools unified for this effort and helped make the inaugural year a success. In 2008, over 1,200 teams and organizations participated, reaching over 830,000 fans and raising over $930,000 for breast cancer awareness and research.
The 2009 campaign raised over $1.3 million, reached over 912,000 fans, unified more than 1,600 participating teams and organizations, and saw 56+ schools break attendance records at their event. The WBCA's charity of choice is the Kay Yow / WBCA Cancer Fund, in partnership with The V Foundation.
