Pink Out Night to make debut during Friday’s girls games at Tonganoxie Invitational
Shawn Linenberger
Tonganoxie High will be having a Pink Out Night on Friday as part of this year’s Tonganoxie Invitational Basketball Tournament.
THS will be conducting a 50/50 raffle throughout Friday’s games, which will be four contests in the girls bracket.
Proceeds will go toward the Susan G. Komen Foundation in the name of a current THS girls basketball team member and her family.
The player inspired and brought the idea of the charitable initiative, as her mother lost a battle with breast cancer when the player was younger.
The winner’s name will be drawn during halftime of the final game of the evening and will be posted for the winner to collect the final day of the tournament the next day if they’re not present to win Friday night.
THS coach Mitch Loomis contacted other teams’ athletics directors about Friday’s plans, as all teams are welcome to participate in any fashion they choose, whether it’s in the form of pink socks, shoelaces, hair bands, warm up tops or the like.
“We could not think of a better night than January 21st as we gather 8 teams full of young women in our gym who will most likely be impacted at some point in their lives, or may have already been affected by breast cancer whether it be family or friends,” Loomis wrote in the email. “My hope is this can continue to be a staple for our tournament and continue to be a night we support this cause.”
Girls games started with quarterfinal action Tuesday. Results weren’t available for The Mirror’s print deadline Tuesday, but more can be found online this week at tonganoxiemirror.com or at The Mirror’s Facebook or Twitter pages.
The invitational is the second-oldest in the state, dating back to 1956.
It’s second to only Dodge City’s annual tournament, which, interestingly enough, Tonganoxie went to in 1966 while still hosting its own tourney without fielding a team.
The girls bracket was added to the tournament in 2005, with Tonganoxie defeating Silver Lake, 34-33, in the first title game.
Girls quarterfinals were as follows: De Soto (3-3) vs. Bishop Ward (1-3), Eudora (6-1) vs. Blue Valley West (3-4), Bonner Springs (3-4) vs. Holton (3-4) and Wamego (7-0) vs. Tonganoxie (2-5).
Winners of the four quarterfinal boys games will advance in the championship bracket and play at 6 and 7:30 p.m. Thursday, while the losers of the quarterfinal games will play at 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
Winners of the four girls quarterfinal games will play at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Friday, while the losers of those games will play in consolation bracket matchups at 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. that day.
The tournament will wrap up Saturday with seventh-place games at 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., respectively, for the girls and boys at the west gymnasium and fifth-place games 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. respectively, for the girls and boys at the east gymnasium.
The third-place and championship games for this year’s tournaments will be in the east gymnasium: 1 p.m. (girls third-place game), 2:30 p.m. (boys third-place game), 5 p.m. (girls championship) and 6:30 p.m. (boys championship).