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OLD WESTBURY, NY (www.oldwestburypanthers.com) –  For the third consecutive season, the SUNY College at Old Westbury women's basketball team is proud to help in the fight against breast cancer when the Panthers host NYU-Poly in a 7 p.m. contest at Clark Athletic Center on February 10 as part of the WBCA's Pink Zone.

The events planned for the day include a breast cancer awareness walk and a pre-game ceremony honoring Old Westbury's two outstanding senior members of the women's basketball team - Shannon Gilly and Brittany Jones. The breast cancer awareness walk around the court will take place at 5:45 p.m. Members of the Old Westbury community are expected to participate in the walk in addition to the women's basketball team and the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. One in eight women are affected by breast cancer and all participants will be asked to walk anywhere from one to eight laps around the court.

Fans are encouraged to wear pink in support of breast cancer awareness. The Panthers and Fighting Blue Jays along with Old Westbury Game Day Staff will wear pink shooting shirts during pregame warm ups.

All across the country, women's basketball teams are joining together to help fight against cancer as part of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association' s Pink Zone initiative, which is aimed at raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. For more information on the WBCA's Pink Zone visit www.wbca.org/pinkzone.asp.

Before or after the game, fans that feel compelled have the opportunity to donate to the following organizations:
-The Kay Yow/WBCA Caner Fund (www.wbca.org/kayyowwbcacancerfund.asp)
-1in9 (www.1in9.org)

The Kay Yow.WBCA MISSION STATEMENT
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.

HISTORY
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 FundTM, 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. 

1 IN 9 MISSION STATEMENT
Since 1990, 1 in 9: The Long Island Breast Cancer Action Coalition has been committed to fighting the cancer epidemic through education, outreach, environmental advocacy, spearheading changes to legislation affecting cancer issues, and continuously raising money to support innovative epidemiological cancer research projects at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. We invite visitors to read about 1 in 9's eighteen years of milestones and hope that you will join us in our efforts

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