UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The color of the day Sunday in the Bryce Jordan Center was not your normal blue and white, but instead something a little different- pink.
The Lady Lions took the court Sunday afternoon in white jerseys with pink trim while Illinois wore full pink jerseys and the Bryce Jordan Center seats were covered by a sea of pink in both honor and celebration. It was the annual Play4Kay Pink Zone game and over 4,500 fans were in attendance, 507 of which were breast cancer survivors.
The survivors were brought onto the court during halftime and were celebrated for their combined 3,678 years, eight months and seven days of survivorship.
That group included a personal Penn State Athletics connection, as Mo Cooper, the wife of current Penn State baseball coach Rob Cooper, met the team before the game. Her pregame talk was just one of the many inspirational moments throughout the day.
"It brought tears to some of our eyes. Life is so much bigger than basketball and we kind of get caught up in our sport," junior guard Kamaria McDaniel said. "But it's so much bigger. It's people out here fighting for their lives and it's such an inspiration to me."
McDaniel wasn't the only Lady Lion to be moved by the experiences of the Pink Zone game.
"The game of basketball can take you so many places," head coach Carolyn Kieger said. "We get consumed with the wins and the losses, but when you can impact 500 survivors and their families, it's pretty special. The atmosphere with the survivors after the game was eye opening. These people are warriors. They're conquerors."
One common theme amongst the team was the realization that there's more to basketball and being a Lady Lion than what goes on between the lines.
"There's evidence that we're all doing what we do for something bigger and it shows on Pink Zone night," senior Siyeh Frazier said. "Just appreciation that we get an opportunity to host a game like this and be a part of something so big."
"I can't even put it into words, it just put things into perspective for me today," McDaniel added. "For us to be fighting on the court, but them to be fighting for their lives, it's something that really touched my heart."
The first Pink Zone game was held by Penn State in February 2007 when Rene Portland, the Lady Lion head coach at the time, came up with the idea. Since the inaugural game, the event has continued to grow and has now had 14 successful games which have raised over $2 million in total.
The members of the team not only recognize the opportunity they have to make a difference, but also just the power of bringing a group together like they did Sunday.
"It shows that what you do and what others do for people doesn't go unrecognized," Frazier said. "It's a huge thing to see how we can bring a lot of people together and fill a room with hope."
"Our whole mindset is to play for [the survivors] and know that they're supporting us and we're supporting them through everything we do," junior forward Alisia Smith added. "It all leads up to this very big moment."
Kieger's first Pink Zone game was a successful one as well as a much awaited one.
"I told a lot of people last night that I've been looking forward to this day for a really long time," she said. "I've admired from a far. Penn State has always down the Pink Zone right and I'm proud to be a part of it."
