PCSS to host Coaches vs. Cancer basketball game

GUILFORD — Basketball coaches from around central Maine will converge on the Piscataquis Community Secondary School gymnasium Saturday, March 19, for the second annual Coaches vs. Cancer benefit basketball game.

The game, scheduled for a 5 p.m. tipoff, will raise funds for the Aliza Jean Family Cancer Foundation.

That foundation was created in the aftermath of the January 2013 death of 13-year-old Aliza Jean Stutzman of Harmony after an eight-month battle with brain cancer. Aliza was an eighth-grader who was an avid basketball player and fan, and she was set to attend Dexter Regional High School and play basketball for the Tigers until her diagnosis.

The foundation, which has raised approximately $50,000 since its inception, was created by Aliza’s parents, Craig and Karen Stutzman, to benefit Maine families coping with cancer. Craig Stutzman works for SAD 4 in Guilford as a speech therapist.

The inaugural Coaches vs. Cancer game was held last year at Penquis Valley High School in Milo and raised funds to benefit Zak Mills of LaGrange — the son of Penquis boys basketball coach Jason Mills — as he battled bone cancer throughout 2015.

Approximately $11,000 was generated from the game and surrounding activities, with about $6,000 raised at the game.

The Aliza Jean Family Cancer Foundation was one of the first groups to donate a sizable check to the Mills family when Zak began his fight against cancer.