Time to get out the pink socks for girls' basketball teams

Look around the gymnasiums of local high schools next week and you are sure to see a lot of pink.

It's Coaches Vs. Cancer Pink Sock Week.

Coaches Vs. Cancer is a nationwide collaborative project between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Fund-raising events raise awareness throughout the season, including boys' and girls' tournaments.

The Philadelphia-area organization raised $234,000 in the last fiscal year, the most in the local initiative's history.

Bill Campo, a member of the volunteer committee that helps organize events and reaches out to schools, said it hopes to raise $250,000 this year.

Coaches vs. Cancer has been raising money and awareness since 1996. This is the first year that teams have been outfitted with hot pink socks bearing the Coaches Vs. Cancer logo.

Pink Sock Week culminates in the Suburban One League Challenge on Jan. 19, when both boys' and girls' teams in the league will wear the socks.

"Just by getting the kids to wear the socks, it keeps everything in everybody's mind," Campo said. "It gets everybody thinking about Coaches vs. Cancer. It strikes a note."

Irish milestone. Notre Dame senior guard Kathleen Fitzpatrick scored her 1,000th point on Dec. 27 at the Spring-Ford tournament.

The St. Joseph's-bound Fitzpatrick needed two points to earn the milestone, and got it two minutes into the game against Conestoga when she drained a three-pointer. She scored a game-high 18 points.

Fitzpatrick is averaging almost 18 points a game for No. 2 Notre Dame (9-1). She's scored in double digits in all 10 games this season, with a season high of 26.

Fitzpatrick is the second Irish player to reach the milestone this season. Megan McGurk accomplished the feat in the opener.