Caldwell, Idaho – The Yotes women’s basketball team squandered a third-quarter lead at No. 9 Lewis-Clark State College as they lost their fifth game in a row on Friday night by a score of 61-58. The men’s team defeated LCSC 74-63 to register their 19th consecutive win.
More important than the outcome of the games was the man on the bench during the Yotes women’s game. Jenika Zurita was set to join Yates as a freshman this season, but months before she could do so, she was diagnosed with leukemia. Illness would delay his college experience. On Friday, she traveled to Caldwell and sat next to the coaching staff for the game.
The teams wore orange T-shirts during warm-ups, men’s guard Jake O’Neal wore neon orange shoes during games, and all coaches wore orange laces on their shoes. All to raise awareness for the fight against leukemia. Yates trying to show support for the battle Zurita is going through.
Men’s head coach Colby Blaine said, “She’s such a rock star.” “We were so excited to be able to support her. She’s gone through a harder fight than any of us on this court tonight. And to see her here, beating her fight that got us out here.” Gave us a ton of energy and a ton of spirit to come out and accomplish what we did.
If Yates got 2,000 or more fans in attendance at a game, male players Paul Wilson and Caden Hendren agreed to have their heads shaved for the cause. At the end of the game, the team announced that attendance was 2,014.
