WELLS — Who says sports doesn’t help people?

Certainly not the Wells girls basketball team. For the second straight year the team hosted the “Shootin’ for a Cure” shootaround on Jan. 15. The event was a greater success this year than in 2009, raising $16,000 for breast cancer treatment at York Hospital. In only two years, the team has raised almost $30,000.

Wells head coach Don Abbott said the event was created after hearing stories of players and friends who have somehow been affected by the disease, which is the leading cancer among women in America, and the second-largest overall killer in the country, behind lung cancer.

“Last year, like any group, we had a few personal experiences where a current player, her mom, went through breast cancer,” Abbott said. “A colleague of mine, his wife was going through it at the same time. You started to see a lot of women’s college teams, with [death of North Carolina State head coach Kay Yow], breast cancer became one of the major fund-raising issues. Last year was my fourth year coaching the girls, and I just started talking with some people, and we had a committee formed. It seemed like it gave us a good platform to act upon, and again, it was a personal issue that affected our basketball family, and it was a good way to get all of our girls, starting at age 10, that doing something in the service of others and helping out other people is a pretty powerful thing.”

Coincidentally, York Hospital opened up a new breast cancer treatment center in Wells on Rte. 109 at the very same time.

“When I went to York Hospital and pitched them the idea, I wanted the money to stay local and have the girls feel like they were doing something in their own community. The York Hospital people were like, ‘Are you aware that we’re set to launch a breast cancer facility in Wells?’ and I wasn’t. That’s where all our money went last year, we raised $13,000, and then they opened that facility in May. They had all our girls there for the ribbon cutting, so that was pretty cool. For an encore, we set a goal for $15,000. I think we surpassed that, we’re over $16,000 now.”

Abbott said basketball players in the Wells program from 5th grade through the varsity team are asked to find sponsors, asking each girl to raise at least $100. Players participate in the shootaround, which requires them to make as many free throws as they can out of 50 shots. Each shot made raises more money from the sponsors.

Prizes are handed out during the weekend. Each player that raised at least $100 was awarded two tickets to a future Maine Red Claws game, and entered into a grand-prize drawing for two tickets to a Boston Celtics game.

The Wells varsity team finished the weekend with their game against Traip Academy. The Warriors even sported pink uniforms as they took the court against the Rangers, a donation, Abbott said, from a program supporter.

In their support of breast cancer awareness, Abbott said Traip Academy also wore white and pink uniforms for the occasion, and also raised money for the effort. Even the basketball was pink.

“I’m friends with the kid who coaches at Traip Academy,” Abbott said. “They ended up raising $2,000-$3,000 themselves for breast cancer. They got some uniforms, too. They had on white uniforms with pink and blue trim, we had on pink uniforms. It was a good night. We ended up winning the game [Wells won 46-33], which was good, too, but it was secondary. It was a nice bonus.”

At halftime, all of the players who participated hit the floor, and representatives were presented with the check for $15,700. Just for the occasion, Abbott had the captains of his team design “a Price is Right-style big check,” he said jokingly.

“It’s unbelievable,” Abbott said. “In the past two years, we’re pushing $30,000 in a small community like Wells, and 90 percent of it has come from the pledges that the girls have gotten themselves. We have gotten very little fat-cat corporate help. I think in the past two years, the biggest donation we got was $500 from a business, but it’s mostly been the hard work of the girls. The $5 here and the $10 there that these girls have gone out and solicited from various people. It’s pretty cool and pretty overwhelming when you see 75-80 girls out on the court at once in their pink shirts, ear-to-ear grins, feeling pretty good about what they accomplished.”

The good karma may be coming back full circle to the team on the court. After a rough start to the season, the Warriors (4-6) have won their last two games, and sit 10th in the Western Class B standings, just outside of one of the nine spots for the playoffs. Wells has been led by the play of forward Kelsey Bragdon, who has averaged 14 points per game.

Abbott said each of the final eight games of the regular season will be important for the playoffs.

“I look at our remaining schedule, and pretty much every single one of them is a point-worthy, meaningful game,” Abbott said. “I think we need to continue to play with the same intensity and the same sort of purpose for the last four games, and not leave any wins out there on the table. We need to win the games that we have a chance to win. We’re 10th right now, and there’s going to be a logjam in the 7-11 range. I think we certainly have the capability to get into the mix, but this is a big week for us.”

Important? Yes, but not as important as the work they did last weekend. That will last much longer than any playoff game.

“I think in the long run, they’re going to remember what they did for other people and just being a part of winning and losing a basketball game,” Abbott said.

The Warriors hit the road today in a contest against Old Orchard Beach. Game time is 7 p.m.

– Contact Dave Dyer at 282-1535 ext. 318.