The Colgate women’s basketball team suffered through another tough week recently. While away at American Uni­versity in Washington D.C. on Saturday, the women put up a great fight until the second half when the level of play dropped off and things went downhill. Going into the half with a score of 23- 34, the Raiders worked hard to close the gap, but the Eagles quickly went on a 23-9 run to make it impossible for the Raiders to catch up in time.

After remaining close until 18:23 re­mained in the half, the Raiders began to falter and allowed American to take con­trol with a devastating 25-2 run. Just as it seemed that the game was completely out of reach for the Colgate women, the Raiders dominated with a 16-5 scoring streak of their own to make a signifi­cant dent in the deficit and enter half­time with a 23-24 score with American on top.

The team entered the second half with the same momentum and con­tinued to pressure the Eagles defense down court. They cut the lead to a manageable 34-27 for American with 17:28 remaining.

Unfortunately, it was as close as they would get. The Eagles burst ahead with another run, this time 23-9, to extend their lead to 21 points at 57-36 and de­finitively pull ahead of the Raiders. Col­gate continued to fight, but the game finally ended with American in the lead as the Raiders fell 70-47.

Despite the recent defeat, the wom­en’s basketball team holds its head high and plan to participate in a nationally recognized event called “Play 4Kay” this coming Saturday, February 11, against Lehigh. The game will be played in memory of Kay Yow, the former North Carolina State women’s basketball coach, who was diagnosed with breast cancer for the first time in 1987 and passed away in January 2009.

The competition is affectionately titled “The Pink Game,” and there are expected to be at least 1,200 teams and organizations participating in the event this year in an attempt to raise breast cancer awareness nationwide.

“The Pink Game is always one of the highlights of the basketball sea­son.” Head Coach Nicci Hays-Fort said. “We are looking forward to mak­ing this a great event for the Hamilton and Colgate communities.”

Saturday’s Play 4Kay event is expect­ed to be a fun fan event for both Colgate students and others in the Colgate and Hamilton communities. At the game, the Colgate Sports Marketing Depart­ment will distribute pink t-shirts to the first 200 fans and Gilligan’s will provide free pink ice cream. There will be a raf­fle for a pair of pink shoes and everyone who wears pink will enjoy free admis­sion. The Raider women have set a goal to raise $5,000 for the Play 4Kay organi­zation. Donations can be made through the women’s basketball team page.

“As a young coach, there was always a high level of admiration for Coach Yow,” Hays said. “She was a pioneer in the sport, giving countless opportunities to young people like myself to not only play the sport of basketball, but also to coach it. She continues to provide op­portunities in more powerful ways now even after her death. It is gratifying for our players and coaches to be able to contribute to the Play 4Kay event.”

The game on Saturday is also a great opportunity for the Raiders to prove themselves a worthy opponent of Le­high after losing the last game to them in double overtime by three points. They will return to Cotterell Court to face off against the Mountainhawks in the char­ity competition at 4 p.m. This is one of five remaining Patriot League matchups.

Contact Katie Rydell at [email protected].