Amid all the festivities, such as the Pink Game for breast cancer awareness and honoring their seniors at the Senior Day game, the SLU women’s basketball team has shared the spotlight in the past two games and left a mark on campus as they begin to wrap up their season.
This past Thursday, the Pink Game was organized in support of breast cancer fighters and survivors, as well as honoring those we lost to this disease.
Southeastern’s women’s basketball head coach, Jeff Dow and his wife, Dr. Emily Dow, both have personal connections to what this game stood for and the impact breast cancer has on people’s lives.
The Dows had a dear friend named Kerri Colvin Ballas during their time at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, who was a breast cancer survivor. Emily Dow said, “When we left IUP, we promised Kerri we would continue raising awareness and funds in the fight against breast cancer.”
“On March 11, 2022, Kerri received a second diagnosis — metastatic breast cancer. On March 18, 2024, she passed away. The PINK Game is our way of honoring her amazing, giving, loving, and selfless spirit. We carry her with us in this work every year,” said Emily Dow.
All proceeds from this game went to Krewe Da Cha Chas, a local organization dedicated to supporting men, women and families affected by breast cancer in Tangipahoa parish through donations, education, gift bags and emotional support during troubled times.
At this time, over $1,000 has been raised for this organization; the total does not include cash donations that have been made and not yet counted.
During the Pink Game against Texas A&M Corpus Christi, junior guard Aliyah Collins put up a career-high 30 points, leading to another back-and-forth game that ended in a close loss for the Lady Lions, 76-69.
Freshman guard Natalie Huff also led the team with six steals, assisting the team to get 10 steals against Corpus Christi.
Then, before Saturday’s match against UTRGV, Southeastern honored its two seniors, Taylor Wilkins and Eryn Williams, on the last home game of the season.
Wilkins previously attended McNeese and UNC-Ashville before transferring to Southeastern to continue to play guard.
At Southeastern, she scored a season-high 15 points against UIW and had a season-high 2 steals against Corpus Christi.
Williams previously attended Delta College before she transferred to LSU-Shreveport, where she became the Red River Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
She went through the transfer portal again and enrolled at SLU. On Senior Day, she scored a season high of 10 points against UTRGV.
The Lady Lions will play against UNO on Thursday, Feb. 26, at 6:30 p.m. before they face Nicholls on Saturday, Feb. 27, at 1 p.m. in Thibadeaux.
Southeastern Women’s Basketball will conclude its season versus Lamar on Monday, March 2, at 6:30 p.m. in Beaumont, Texas.
All games will be streamed live on ESPN+ and broadcast live on KSLU 90.9 The Lion.
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