San Bruno, CA - All eight West Coast Conference institutions are stepping up their efforts to collect as many shoes possible to donate to Soles4Souls. Throughout the conference basketball season, student-athletes at each institution are collaborating with their marketing departments to not only distribute new and lightly worn shoes to those in need and to support the Soles4Souls/Zappos partnership, but also to win a fan party at the WCC Basketball Championships in Las Vegas!

The collection contest is heating up as Pepperdine leads the collection effort with 185 pairs of shoes. Saint Mary's trails closely behind with 177 pairs, and Portland poses a threat with 129. All are invited to bring shoes to all WCC basketball events before February 23rd to help the West Coast Conference support a great cause!

Soles4Souls
Soles4Souls is a non-profit organization based out of Alabama that was created by Wayne Elsey as a response to the 2004 tsunami that hit Southeast Asia. Now, after having coordinated relief efforts for the Asian Tsunami and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Soles4Souls has already successfully donated over one million pairs of shoes to those hurting both domestically and internationally.

Zappos
Zappos.com was founded in 1999 with the goal of becoming the premiere destination for online shoes. Since then, Zappos has become the industry's leader in online shoes and expanded their online offerings to include handbags, clothing, electronics and more. Zappos is a Las Vegas based company, home of the 2009 WCC Men's and Women's Basketball Championships.

**The Saint Mary's women's basketball team has four more home games before February 23!

January 24 vs. San Diego (2:00 PM)

January 29 vs. Gonzaga (7:00 PM)

January 31 vs. Portland (2:00 PM)

February 7 vs. Santa Clara (2:00 PM)

**The Saint Mary's men's basketball team has five more home games before February 23!

February 5 vs. San Francisco (8:30 PM)

February 12 vs. Gonzaga (8:00 PM)

February 14 vs. Portland (7:00 PM)

February 19 vs. San Diego (8:00 PM)

February 21 vs. ESPNU BracketBusters (TBA)