Maybe it was the power of the pink. Or the power of the people.

Whichever the case, the Emory women's basketball team thrilled a season-high crowd by defeating nationally ranked Washington University 68-66 to cap a week of Think Pink activities on the Emory University campus.

Think Pink was a joint effort of the Department of Athletics and the Emory Breast Health Center to raise awareness while also raising funds for Emory's Winship Cancer Institute and the Emory Department of Surgery.

The week leading up to the basketball game, the Athletics Department sponsored the sale of breast cancer awareness items on campus, and a semi-formal Pink Tie Affair was held on Saturday. The week of activities ended with the women's basketball game, for which the team received a "pink out."

The Eagles asked fans to wear pink to the game and the team wore special uniforms, which incorporated pink alongside the team's traditional yellow and blue.

The team, which plays its games at the Woodruff P.E. Center, usually averages less than 200 fans per game. They were looking forward to avenging a loss earlier this year to Washington, which won the Division III championship last year. About 820 showed up for Sunday's game, where pink T-shirts were handed out to fans.

During the game's halftime, the Department of Athletics presented a check for $27,500 to representatives from the Winship Cancer Institute and the School of Medicine.

"I think it was incredible," said Angie Duprey, the assistant director of athletics for marketing and organizer of the Athletics Department's activities. "The community spirit and effort of the entire campus came through. The thanks that the researchers gave us —- they said, 'It makes us want to work that much harder,' which is a testament to why we do these things.

"Our goal was to raise money, but we also wanted to raise awareness and we achieved that goal."

Emory's Think Pink campaign was the offshoot of an initiative conceived by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association to raise breast cancer awareness in women's basketball and college campuses across the country.

Feb. 8-17 was designated Think Pink Week by the WBCA, and more than 100 women's basketball teams nationwide were expected to wear pink uniforms during their games that week.

"I think it's a great way to shine a light on this topic," said Emory women's basketball coach Christy Thomaskutty.

"Modern-day athletics has such a large target audience to share this message about something that is going to touch everybody's lives —- either directly or indirectly —- and I'm just happy to be a part of it."

Emory began its Think Pink effort in October to honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month and continued throughout the winter with an online store. Their Think Pink Web site carried items with the Emory athletics logo, mascot and pink ribbon on a pink background.

"It started with the WBCA and my showing their note to Angie [in the fall]," Thomaskutty said.

"And from there it's expanded into an Emory weeklong community event. [Friday] on campus I saw cafeteria workers, faculty members, staff all in pink."

Added Duprey: "We wanted the Emory community to realize what great research is being done on our campus.

"A lot of people don't realize that the Winship Cancer Institute is right across the street or that the School of Medicine does breast cancer research.

"We can make great strides and possibly find a cure right in our backyard."

The women's basketball team was excited their game was the target event for the week's activities.

"As an athlete, that's the dream —- to play in front of a big crowd," said junior guard Kendall Boyd.

"The fact that they're decked out in pink shows that they care about breast cancer as much as we do."