Xavier and Mount St. Joseph to Launch ‘Lauren Hill Tip-Off Classic’

FILE – In this Nov. 2, 104 file photo, Mount St. Joseph’s Lauren Hill gives thumbs-up as she holds the game ball during her first NCAA college basketball game against Hiram University at Xavier University in Cincinnati. The freshman player is taking life day-to-day as a cancerous tumor in her brain grows. As part of her final push, Hill is raising money to research and treat the type of cancer that is taking her life. A big donation on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014, pushed the total raised to more than $324,000. (PHOTO CREDIT: AP Photo/Tom Uhlman, File)

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Xavier and Mount St. Joseph announced on Wednesday that the two schools will honor the memory of the late-Lauren Hill by launching the ‘Lauren Hill Tip-Off Classic’.

The event is a double-header that will be held annually to kick-off the season for the women’s basketball teams for both Xavier and Mount St. Joseph. This year’s event will be held on Saturday, Nov. 14th, at the Cintas Center, Xavier’s home arena. Xavier will play Evansville while Mount St. Joseph, a Division III program, will play Hiram College.

Hill was a freshman on the Mount St. Joseph team last season despite the fact that she was battling a terminal form of brain cancer called Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, or DIPG. She tragically passed away in April, but not before her fight, and the publicity it generated, raised $1.8 million for a foundation called ‘The Cure Starts Now‘, a non-profit charity that aids the fight against pediatric cancer.

Proceeds from the Lauren Hill Tip-Off Classic will be donated to The Cure Starts Now.

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SOURCE: NBC Sports, Rob Dauster