Hartsville, SC- The Coker College Women’s Basketball Team will join more than 900 other participating teams in the 2008 “Think Pink” initiative, sponsored by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). The Lady Cobras have committed to the “Think Pink” week, February 8-17, by wearing special pink warm-up shirts during their game on Thursday, February 14, against Conference Carolinas opponent Mount Olive at 5:30 p.m. Coker joins fellow Conference Carolinas team, St. Andrews Presbyterian College, in the “Think Pink” initiative, as St. Andrews host Queens University in their own “Think Pink” game.

Coker’s Head Coach, Carol Meegan, and the Lady Cobras have been helping raise awareness for breast cancer all year, by selling special Pink Coker Women’s Basketball shirts, with a portion of the profit from each shirt benefiting the Darlington County Relay for Life.

Coker invites all breast cancer survivors to come to Thursday night’s basketball double-header and wear pink. The Lady Cobras will recognize all survivors in attendance with a special presentation during the half-time of the men’s game.

The "Think Pink" initiative is a global, unified effort for the WBCA's nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. In 2008, schools have raised more than $65,000 for the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund, with the WBCA expecting donations to continue to grow.

"The WBCA is very excited to promote an initiative that touches all levels of our membership and unifies them for such a great cause," said WBCA CEO Beth Bass. "It has been remarkable to watch the support of this initiative grow from 120 teams last year to over 900 teams from a variety for sports for 2008. With the help of each of our members, the women's basketball community and beyond can make a difference in the fight against breast cancer."

This is not the first time that Coker Athletics has raised money for the cancer awareness, this past October marked the 2nd Annual “Pretty in Pink” Volleyball Match, where the Lady Cobras volleyball team sported special pink jerseys in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness month, while raising money for the Darlington County Relay for Life. In their two years the Lady Cobras have raised nearly $2,000 in support of the Relay for Life.

Schools have chosen to participate in a variety of different ways. The extent of involvement is up to the individual institution; the importance comes in the awareness that the event creates. Coker chose to keep the money raised for local charities, because there are many women at the college and in the local Hartsville community that have been affected by cancer.

Thus far, several WBCA partners and sponsors have chosen to get involved in the WBCA's "Think Pink" initiative. ESPN has joined the initiative by dedicating their annual "February Frenzy" and "Big Monday" women's college basketball games on ESPN2 and ESPN360.com to promoting breast cancer awareness and supporting the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund in partnership with The V Foundation. The NCAA has also joined the "Think Pink" initiative by implementing the "Calling for a Cure" campaign where all NCAA women's basketball officials will be blowing a pink whistle February 8-17.

Following the 2008 "Think Pink" week, the WBCA will collect photos, press releases, t-shirts, and radio/video footage, and will tally total number of fans reached and donations collected during the initiative.