VICTORIA, B.C. - The University of Victoria Vikes women's and men's basketball teams will play host to the final leg of the national Shoot For The Cure initiative which raises funds and awareness for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF).

The Vikes will host a number of events to help raise funds next week, including the Cancer Beatdown car smash on Feb. 17, with the marquee event being the Feb. 18 basketball games against UBC. The women tip off at 6 p.m. with the men following at 8 p.m. at McKinnon Gymnasium. TICKET INFORMATION

Last year, 36 CIS schools participated by holding one or numerous fundraising games or activities over the course of the campaign. The first game in 2010-11 was hosted by the Western Mustangs in London, Ont., in the pre-season in October. A full listing of games is available here.

"We'd love everyone to come out Friday night and support this initiative in a great game, with a playoff-like atmosphere, where we're up against our provincial rival UBC," said University of Victoria women's head coach Brian Cheng. "I read that one in every three people you meet will be affected either directly or indirectly by breast cancer; it touches everyone. It has touched our program. Kathy Shields had a bout and was successful in battling it, a couple of mothers have had it but cannot share that same success story. It's a life and death matter, but I think with support, and research and money, that one day we will come up with a cure."

Game times Friday night are 6 p.m. for the women and 8 p.m. for the men.

"Rod Gilpin, now the men's head coach at Bishop's and a former women's coach there, and Jeff Speedy, at UNB spearheaded the Shoot For The Cure and really unified the women's coaches across Canada," said Cheng. "While all the women's coaches were doing things independently, they came up with the idea to bring our fund-raising efforts to a national level."

"It is all about giving back and being part of something much bigger than basketball," said Speedy, head coach at the University of New Brunswick and the project manager of the initiative amongst women's basketball head coaches in the CIS. "The Shoot For The Cure initiative has raised almost a quarter of a million dollars in three years and that is obviously fantastic. But we as coaches are also helping our student-athletes to recognize the importance of being involved in such a worthwhile event off the court."

"I really believe this is helping them grow as people. So there are many reasons why the Shoot For The Cure initiative is big," Speedy said. "But providing funds we hope will find a cure for breast cancer is far and away the most important reason for doing this."

Several schools have had great success in raising funds this year:
- Lakehead raised $6,000
- Winnipeg raised $5,000
- UBC had an Athletics Think Pink weekend that raised approximately $8,600
- UNB had raised over $8,000 with their campaign just wrapping up with a goal of reaching $12,000 once the final totals are in

"Our Shoot For The Cure initiative is back for a fourth year and we are excited to try to reach our goal of raising $100,000 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation," added Speedy. "We believe we can make a difference in the fight against breast cancer and are excited to get back to work."

For more information on the CBCF or to make a donation, visit http://www.cbcf.org/