On Feb. 13 at Walsh Gymnasium, the Seton Hall women's basketball team will leave their traditional Pirate blue colored jerseys in the locker room.
Instead, the women will be wearing pink shirts, shoelaces, and headbands to help raise cancer awareness during their game against the University of South Florida.
Fans attending the game are encouraged to wear pink as well in support for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Pink Zone initiative.
Last year, the Pink Zone campaign rose over $1.3 million, $3,000 of which the Pirates raised, and more than 1,600 teams participated.
The WBCA's charity of choice is the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund, in partnership with The V Foundation.
Megan Tarrant, the graduate assistant for the women's basketball team, is running the Pink Zone initiative for Seton Hall this year and played a major part in planning Saturday's event.
"100 percent of the proceeds go to the two funds (Susan G. Komen and Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund)", Tarrant said. "It's a great way to come support the women's team, raise awareness, and battle cancer."
This year, there will be a raffle full of donated items. Tickets for the raffle are going for $1 per ticket and $5 for six tickets.
The Susan G. Komen North Jersey chapter will be teaming up with Seton Hall on Saturday and taking donations as well as handing out pamphlets to raise knowledge of cancer.
Items from the raffle include gift certificates to local restaurants, tickets to multiple New Jersey Devils home games at the Prudential Center, and autographed memorabilia from local sports stars such as Nick Swisher, Martin Brodeur, and Carlos Delgado.
The Pink Zone initiative began in 2007 as "Think Pink" in order to raise cancer awareness to help coaches dealing with the illness, after former North Carolina State University's women's basketball head coach Kay Yow was diagnosed with breast cancer for the third time.
Yow began her coaching career in 1975 and was on the sidelines all the way up to her passing in 2009.
She not only spent her whole career at NC State, but also won an Olympic gold medal in 1988 when she coached the United State's women's basketball team.
She is now a part of the Naismith Hall of Fame and accumulated over 700 wins in her career. In 2007, Yow received the first ever Jimmy V ESPY award for perseverance, which has since been given out to coaches like Yow who at the time are battling some type of medical illness.
Students will be admitted to Saturday's game against the Bulls for free, and tickets for the public will be $10.
The initiative is ending on Feb. 21, with multiple schools raising awareness and having their own respective Pink Zone games up until then.
For more information on the Pink Zone initiative, visit www.wbca.org/pinkzone.asp.
Nicholas Parco can be reached at nicholas.parco@student.shu.edu.
