The UCLA women’s basketball team is doing a bit of charity work this week.
The Bruins’ efforts to raise breast cancer awareness are continuing past last Sunday’s “Think Pink” game, a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness and research.
The team wore custom-made pink and white Adidas uniforms during Sunday’s win over Washington. The jerseys are now being auctioned off on UCLABruins.com until Friday at 5 p.m. The proceeds from the online auction will go toward the Revlon/UCLA Breast Center.
The center was founded in 1992. According to its Web site, its mission is to “bring the most comprehensive and compassionate care to (its) patients and to develop future medicine to end the suffering of women with breast cancer.”
According to the team, the Bruins are proud to have to opportunity to auction off these one-of-a-kind jerseys to raise awareness and funding for the cause.
“I thought that Adidas showed a huge commitment to the fight against breast cancer,” coach Kathy Olivier said. “I have been here forever, and I thought, “˜Wow this is a huge statement for UCLA to allow us to wear pink uniforms.’ I was touched. I hope people bid on them.”
Olivier suggested that almost everyone has been affected by breast cancer in some way. Even within the UCLA athletics program, sophomore center Moniquee Alexander lost her mother to breast cancer and women’s volleyball assistant coach Kim Jagd is a survivor of the disease. Jagd is an example of someone who caught the disease in the early stages, due to awareness.
UCLA was one of a select number of schools chosen to wear pink uniforms in a televised game for the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s “Think Pink” day.
“The fact that we were chosen out of many schools to wear the pink uniforms was an amazing opportunity, not one that many players forget,” senior forward Lindsey Pluimer said.
As of Monday, every UCLA pink uniform had at least one bid placed in the online auction.
PLUIMER NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
On Monday, Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen announced that senior forward Lindsey Pluimer has been named as the U.S. Bank Pac-10 Women’s Basketball Player of the Week.
Pluimer had an outstanding weekend against the Washington schools, finishing with a season-high 19 points in each game against both Washington State and Washington. She also garnered a total 13 rebounds and three blocks against the Washington schools.
“I thought our team did a good job of having good spacing this week and I was able to find the gaps within the zones,” Pluimer said.
Pluimer has been an active force for the Bruins all season long. She leads the team in scoring with 14.8 points per game and has 23 total steals. She also has the highest free throw percentage at 81.5 percent.
In her last year playing for UCLA, Pluimer ranks second among all active Pac-10 career leaders with 700 career rebounds. She is also the sixth woman in UCLA history to record over 1,400 points and 700 rebounds.