In the next few weeks, you will see a lot of pink on basketball courts around town as girls and women’s teams take part in the Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association Pink Zone, aimed at raising awareness of breast cancer among young women who play and watch the games.

Many teams will be decked out in pink. As you can see by the photo on the front page of today’s Sports section, North Carolina’s women wore pink for their game yesterday against Maryland.

This year's Pink Zone initiative has special meaning for the women’s basketball community after the death Saturday of North Carolina State coach Kay Yow from breast cancer. North Carolina wore the pink uniforms yesterday in her honor and the Terrapins wore pink warm-up shirts.

Yow, a Hall of Fame coach with more than 700 wins, fought a public battle with breast cancer for more than 20 years. As she continued to coach, Yow raised awareness of the disease and helped raise money for research. She was the sister of Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow. Maryland's official Pink Zone game will be Feb. 15 against Rutgers.

A number of local high school teams, including Bryn Mawr, Dulaney and Western, will host Pink Zone events in which they donate the proceeds to breast cancer research. Teams in other sports have had similar events, including South River’s field hockey team and River Hill’s volleyball team – and many others (sorry I can't mention them all.)

For some of these young athletes it is a very personal experience, having lost relatives or in some cases, their mothers to the disease. For others, it gives them an awareness that may save their lives sometime in the future.

Funds raised from the Pink Zone events are usually donated to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund and that’s where the money from Bryn Mawr, Dulaney and Western will go.

This year’s nationwide designated Pink Zone dates are Feb. 13-22, but programs may elect any date close to that. Bryn Mawr's event is Wednesday against St. Mary's at 5 p.m. while Dulaney's is Friday against Hereford at 7 p.m. Western’s will be Feb. 17 at 3:45 p.m. against Reginald Lewis.

Come out to a Pink Zone in the next few weeks. Wear pink and honor a women’s basketball pioneer while supporting a cause that every young woman needs to know about.

-- Katherine Dunn