This basketball season, the Southside Lady Panthers are playing for wins for the team, but also to raise awareness and donations for breast cancer research.

Dubbing the locker room the “pink zone,” the team and coaches wore pink to the Tuesday night game, a game that was also chosen as a night to honor three survivors of breast cancer.

Fans and the coaches from Dallas County were also invited to wear pink to the game.

“Dallas County was also really excited about the pink out,” said assistant coach April O’Neal. “Everybody’s contributing to this affair.”

The Southside community joined in to the celebration as well.

Teachers and faculty wore pink to school on Tuesday, bleachers were covered in pink paper for the honored guests and their friends or family, pink balloons decorated the railings of the stands, Southside players drank from pink water bottles, Southside dance team wore pink shirts and fans and coaches and Southside girls wore clothing. Any item that could have been pink was pink.

Outside of the gymnasium, Tanya Miles, principal of B. K. Craig Elementary School, handed out information about breast cancer awareness on behalf of the Living In Hope, a local breast cancer research and awareness organization.

“I’m here just to help women be aware of early detection,” Miles said. “It’s the biggest lifesaver.”

Miles started Living in Hope with her sister Sherri James, who passed away on Jan. 24, 2009, from breast cancer, the exact same day Kay Yow, of the Kay Yow V Foundation, the other organization to receive donation from the money raised at the game on Tuesday, passed away.

Survivors Veronica Carr, Carol Purdie, and principal of Five Points Elementary School Lou Ella Gutheridge were honored at half time, and friends or family of each of these recipients received the awards on their behalf.

During the honoring, the Southside cheerleaders went around the gym collecting donation to add to the $170 total.

One dollar raised from all tickets sold from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. was donated to the two organizations. The goal for the evening was $200, a total reached by the end of the night.