February 10, 2012
Lake Erie College Basketball Taking Breast Cancer by Storm Feb. 16-18
Release courtesy of Jason Tirotta, LEC Assistant
Athletic Director for External Operations
PAINESVILLE, OHIO – Now in its third
year, Lake Erie College’s “Taking Breast Cancer by
Storm” awareness effort hits the hardwood February 16-18 for
a pair of basketball doubleheaders as part of the Great Lakes
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Pink Wave
initiative.
Fans will be admitted FREE when the Storm women’s and
men’s basketball teams host Northern Michigan University on
Thursday, Feb. 16, beginning at 6 p.m. and then welcome Michigan
Tech University to town on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 1 p.m. The
games will be played on campus at the Jerome T. Osborne Family
Athletic & Wellness Center.
That Saturday women’s contest could have major playoff
implications. The Storm (15-6, 9-5 GLIAC) currently trails
the visiting Huskies (15-5, 10-4 GLIAC), who were the NCAA Division
II national runners-up last year, by a game for fourth place in the
overall conference standings. The top four teams will host a
first-round GLIAC Tournament game on Wednesday, Feb. 29.
Everyone attending is encouraged to wear pink to support the
cause and thought there is no charge for admission, but donations
will be accepted to benefit the Women’s Basketball Coaches
Association’s Kay Yow Cancer Fund. In addition, fans will
have the opportunity to buy limited edition $5 “Taking Breast
Cancer by Storm” t-shirts and $1 bracelets with those
proceeds also going to the Kay Yow Fund. There will be raffles,
games, contests and prizes throughout the games.
The basketball teams will wear special “Taking Breast
Cancer by Storm” t-shirts during warm-ups of those games and
their GLIAC road contests during the league’s “Pink
Wave” Feb. 9-19. The shirts were donated to the cause
by Reed Activewear in Painesville. They will also wear pink
shoelaces and other accessories throughout the games this
month.
“This weekend in the past has been a great way for our
student-athletes, coaches, staff, fans and the surrounding
community to get involved in breast cancer awareness and show our
support for a great cause,” said Lake Erie Assistant Athletic
Director for Sport Operations and Student Development and Senior
Woman Administrator Lisa Liotta. “We expanded the
effort this year into the fall and raised a nice amount of money,
but this event was the first and is the one that seems to have the
most impact. We hope that the fact we have a big game on tap that
weekend will draw a lot of interest.”
During the month of October, the Lake Erie football team wore
pink-themed accessories and pink ribbon helmet decals for their
Oct. 15 night game against Grand Valley State University while the
volleyball team wore special warm-up tops for its pink-themed
weekend Oct. 7-9. The Storm soccer teams also sported
warm-up tops and accessories supporting the cause for their home
contests during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
To date, “Taking Breast Cancer by Storm” has
donated nearly $4,000 to breast cancer research. Yearly the
weekend sports the largest crowds of the season to “The
O”. For more information, log on to
www.LakeErieStorm.com or follow
the Storm on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/lecsports.
Lake Erie
College Basketball Taking Breast Cancer by Storm/GLIAC Pink
Wave
When: Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012 vs. Northern
Michigan University (Women’s game at 6 p.m., men follow)
Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012 vs. Michigan Tech University (Women’s
game at 1 p.m., men follow)
Where: Jerome T. Osborne Family Athletic &
Wellness Center in Painesville (corner of West Walnut Avenue and
Gillett Street)
Note: Free admission to all fans; donations and
merchandise sales to benefit “Play 4 Kay” and the Kay
Yow Cancer Fund.
