STANDISH, ME - Saint Joseph's College will be hosting its third annual Women's Basketball Coaches Association "Pink Zone" game to raise breast cancer awareness when the men's basketball team hosts Mount Ida College on Saturday, February 20th at 1:00 PM.

All gate proceeds generated from the contest will be donated to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund. SJC women's team members will be selling pink tee-shirts and accepting donations near the ticket table prior to the game as well.

The women were originally slated to host the festivities, as has been done the last two seasons, when they played Mount Ida as part of a GNAC twin bill on Saturday. However, when the Mount Ida women's team cancelled the remainder of its season earlier this month, including the Saturday's contest against St. Joe's, the men's program stepped up to participate in the cause.

Saint Joseph's is one of over 1,600 basketball programs and organizations across the nation participating in the 2010 WBCA "Pink Zone" activities.

The WBCA Pink Zone® 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 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. The WBCA strongly encourages all donations from Pink Zone games to be given to this Fund.

About the WBCA

Founded in 1981, the WBCA promotes women's basketball by unifying coaches at all levels to develop a reputable identity for the sport and to foster and promote the development of the game as a sport for women and girls. For additional information about the WBCA, please visit wbca.org.