The University of Nevada women's basketball team will host the annual John Ascuaga's Nugget Classic this weekend at Lawlor Events Center with North Carolina State, San Diego State and Minnesota filling out the tournament field. Besides an impressive field of competition, the tournament will feature a number of promotional opportunities as well as working for charitable causes. Admission for all four games of the tournament is free to all patrons.
Head coach Jane Albright will be offering her two personal tickets to the Boise State football game Friday night in a free drawing that will be conducted at some point during the opening game at 1 p.m.
Nevada will be working to support the Kay Yow Foundation and Mom's on the Run to help fight breast cancer. Kay Yow was the head coach at NC State who was a prominent figure for her fight against breast cancer, which she lost a year and a half ago. There will be a silent auction and pink treadmill walk-a-thon during the game to help raise funds for the organizations. In addition, Silver and Blue Outfitters will be selling special pink Nevada shirts with a portion of the proceeds going straight to both groups.
Albright, a close personal friend of Kay Yow, will also personally donate a dollar for every person in attendance over the 5,000 mark of the game against NC State, which would be the largest crowd ever to watch a Nevada women's basketball game.
"Kay's philosophy would be to keep part of any money raised local," Albright said. "That's why we're partnering with Moms on the Run. We really want people to come out for charitable support, but also see some really great basketball games."
The Wolf Pack will face NC State for the first time in program history in the opening game Friday. Nevada is currently 3-1 on the season, coming off a loss at UNLV on Sunday. San Diego State, a Sweet 16 team last year, will play Minnesota at 3 p.m. The winners of the two games will play in the championship game at 7 p.m. while the losers will play the consolation game at 5 p.m. Last season West Virginia won the tournament championship over Nevada 66-41.
Live stats for all games can be found at www.nevadawolfpack.com.
