Mount St. Mary?s Joins WBCA?s Fight Against Breast Cancer With The Pink Zone Versus St. Francis (N.Y.) On Feb. 19

EMMITSBURG, Md. - The Mount St. Mary's University women's basketball team is joining the Northeast Conference, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and 820 schools and organizations nationwide for "Pink Zone" during the Mount's home contest against St. Francis (N.Y) on Feb. 19. Game time is 3 p.m.

During the Mountaineers contest against the Terriers, fans who wear pink and donate $2 to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund will get admitted to the game for free. The first 200 fans in attendance will receive a "Pink Zone" mini basketball.

Mount St. Mary's will be participating in this nationwide event for the fourth-consecutive campaign. The Mount has raised $1,129.25 for the fight against breast cancer in the first three years.

The WBCA began the WBCA Pink Zone in 2007 as an initiative to raise breast cancer awareness in women's basketball, on campuses and in communities. The late 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. In 2010, over 1,800 participants came together to surpass $1,045,000 in donations and reached more than 922,000 fans across the nation. Over 22 schools broke attendance records through their participation.

Overall, the WBCA Pink Zone has raised nearly $3.3 Million, has reached almost 2.7 Million fans, and has unified over 4,700 participants in only four years. The WBCA's charity of choice is the Kay Yow Cancer Fund^TM, in partnership with The V Foundation. The WBCA strongly encourages all donations from WBCA Pink Zone games to be given to the Fund. The late Kay Yow, the Fund's namesake and former N.C. State head women's basketball coach, served as a catalyst for starting the WBCA Pink Zone. After three bouts with breast cancer, Yow passed away in January 2009.

Did You Know...

• Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death for all women and the leading overall cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 20 and 59
• In the United States, breast cancer is expected to be newly diagnosed every three minutes, and a woman will die from breast cancer every 13 minutes
• African American women have a higher breast cancer death rate than women of any other racial or ethnic population
• Eighty percent of all breast tumors are benign
• There are several lifestyle choices that individuals can make to help reduce breast cancer risk including decreasing daily fat intake (especially saturated and hydrogenated) increasing fiber, eating fruits and vegetables, limiting alcohol, staying active and not smoking
• Breast cancer is the most invasive cancer among women in the United State accounting for nearly one out of every three cancers diagnosed