Great news:

The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association announced extraordinary results from its 2009 WBCA Pink Zone™ initiative. To date, the initiative has unified 1,636 teams and organizations through their participation in the 2009 breast cancer awareness campaign, held February 13-22.

Donations raised thus far surpass $1,362,000 and more than 912,000 fans were reached across the nation. Over 56 schools broke attendance records through participation in the WBCA Pink Zone.

“Our coaches and the women’s basketball nation continue to amaze us by their support and participation in this cause,” said WBCA CEO Beth Bass. “Their dedication to making a difference spans beyond the perimeters of the gym and shows that there are more important things in our sport than the win-loss column. We have a chance to truly impact our nation by using our voices to raise breast cancer awareness and dollars for research.”

The WBCA’s charity of choice is the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund™, in partnership with The V Foundation. All participants in the WBCA Pink Zone are encouraged to send donations to the Fund. This year, 1,251 of the participants donated at least a portion of their proceeds to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund, raising over $732,000. The remainder of the proceeds was given to various local and national charities.

“With Coach Yow’s passing in January, I really think that it hit home for our coaches to rally around a cause that was so dear to her,” said Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund President Marsha Sharp. “Her vision was to unite two of her passions, coaching and cancer research, to leave a lasting legacy in our sport.

My hope is that we will continue to gain momentum in raising money for cancer research as a nation of coaches.”

Speaking of research:

The Kay Yow/Women's Basketball Coaches Association Cancer Fund and The V Foundation announce that Michael Welch, Ph.D. and John-Stephen Tyler, Ph.D. will be recipients of the first research grant awarded with money raised by the Kay Yow/WBCA Fund. Awarded during the NCAA Women's Final Four weekend in St. Louis, Missouri, the grant will be given to fund a breast cancer research project at the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, also located in St. Louis.