Queen’s Women’s Basketball team members netted close to $5,000 this season as part of the annual Shoot for the Cure fundraising event for the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS).

Organized since 2007 in collaboration with the U SPORTS Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association, Shoot for the Cure supports the CCS, as well as local and provincial charities, to help fight breast cancer.

Due to the pandemic, the Gaels held a virtual ‘Power Hour’ fundraiser that ran Jan. 17-30. Each player chose an exercise to perform for one hour, and asked people to choose any amount of money they would donate per rep/distance achieved in an hour.

This year, the team blew past their $3,000 goal to raise $4,928.56 so far. Fifth-year Computer Science student Emma Ritcey, a guard for the Gaels, helped plan the event.

“Shoot for the Cure allows us, along with all women’s basketball teams across the country, to use our platform to give back,” says Ritcey. “Our team has been involved in this initiative for a long time and the initiative is close to a lot of peoples’ hearts.”

Donations to support the Queen’s team’s contributions can still be made here.

The Gaels are now preparing for the 2022 U SPORTS Women’s Basketball Final 8 which will be hosted by Queen’s University from March 31 to April 3. Queen’s will be hosting the top university women’s basketball teams in the country at the ARC and will compete for the Bronze Baby.

For updates on all upcoming Gaels events, tournaments, and player updates, check out the Gaels website.