Women's Hoops Announces Drive For Five
February 08, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 8, 2010
NCAA Pack the House Event Flyer
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Join the East Carolina women's basketball team Saturday, Feb. 13 as it hosts Tulane at 1 p.m. and attempts to break the program attendance record in the "Drive for Five," which was announced by the East Carolina Athletics Marketing Department Monday. The goal of the event is to have at least 5,000 fans in attendance.
A Minges Coliseum-record crowd of 4,500 filed into the arena Jan. 30, 1981 to witness the Lady Pirates take on No. 6 USC. The Trojans would win a tight affair, 86-81. Saturday's showdown with the Green Wave could have a large impact at the top of the league standings as ECU currently trails Tulane by just a half-game for first-place.
Fans can gain free admission to the contest if they:
A pregame social for students will also be held at noon in Harvey Hall at the Murphy Center and will feature free pizza and drinks to those with valid OneCards.
The game is being held in conjunction with two events - the Women's Basketball Coaches' Association "Pink Zone®" effort and the NCAA "Pack the House" competition.
The WBCA began the 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, ECU alumna and 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. A year later, over 1,200 teams and organizations participated, reaching over 830,000 fans and raising over $930,000 for breast cancer awareness and research. Last season, the campaign raised over $1.3 million, reached over 912,000 fans, united more than 1,600 participating teams and organizations, and saw at least 56 schools break attendance records at their events. The WBCA's charity of choice is the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund®, in partnership with The V Foundation.
The NCAA initiated the "Pack the House" competition prior to the 2007-08 season. The organization will select one marketing staff (maximum of four people) from the schools in each of the 33 participating conferences as a conference winner (independent schools will compete against each other as a 'conference'). From the pool of 33 conference selections, one marketing staff will be honored as the grand prize winner and the remaining 32 conference winners will receive prizes. East Carolina was the recipient from Conference USA in 2008 as a crowd of 3,227, the fifth-largest in program history, watch the Lady Pirates defeat UCF 78-69 Feb. 17. In addition, the NCAA will make a $500 donation to a non-profit organization (of each institution's choice and subject to approval by the NCAA) on behalf of each of the 33 winners.
Before entertaining Tulane, the Lady Pirates will host UTEP Thursday. Tipoff at Minges Coliseum is scheduled for 7 p.m.
