ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne can count about 10,000 reasons why her team will once again host the AstraZeneca Hoops for the Cure Classic this December.
Those 10,000 reasons equal the amount of money ASU raised from the first Hoops for the Cure Classic in December 2000. And with the proceeds from the event once again benefiting the Phoenix affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research, Turner Thorne sees nothing but positives in hosting the event a second time.
"Almost everybody has been touched by this disease," Turner Thorne said. "I feel fortunate to be in a position to try and help."
The inaugural Hoops for the Cure event, held at Bank One Ballpark in December 2000, saw ASU set school and Pac-10 records for attendance while also staging the first-ever outdoor women's basketball game. ASU lost that game to the Tennessee Volunteers 67-63.
This time around the Sun Devils will take on the 2001 NCAA National Champion Fighting Irish of Notre Dame at Wells Fargo Arena. Vanderbilt and Purdue will play in the night's second game.
"We didn't have problems drawing teams," said Turner Thorne of scheduling this year's event. "There are other teams that would have liked to have come."
This year's title sponsor, AstraZeneca, is a maker of breast cancer therapies and was also the title sponsor for the event in 2000. Turner Thorne said, with the assistance of the event's sponsors, every seat in 14,088-seat Wells Fargo Arena will be sold out.
"We are obviously hoping to convert more fans," Turner Thorne said. "It's definitely a goal to get every girls basketball player in the state to the game."
With an estimated 204,000 new cases of breast cancer expected to be diagnosed this year as well as over 39,000 estimated deaths this year alone, Turner Thorne said she hopes the event can eventually become an annual one.
"It is conceivable we could do it (the tournament) every year," Turner Thorne said.
"If it takes on a life of its own, great."
Tickets for the event went on sale last week and can be purchased either through the Sun Devil ticket office or by logging on to the event's website, www.hoopsforthecure.org.
Turner Thorne said she is thankful to have a platform to spread the word about the deadly disease.
"We're trying to educate," Turner Thorne said. "For me personally, I can touch a lot more people."
Reach the reporter at al.stevens@asu.edu.
