As the saying goes, it's better to give than receive. Prescott's Emily Calabrese knows the drill. Calabrese is a kindergarten teacher at Malone Elementary and she's also the head track coach for Prescott High School in the spring. In the fall, she's the assistant cross-country coach. Her husband, Carl, coaches along with her. You'd think Emily and Carl would take the winter off, right? Nope. Winter season is when Carl volunteers in the concession stand outside the gym during Cardinal basketball games. Emily is inside the gym running the scoreboard for boys’ and girls’ basketball. The only season the Calabreses didn't seem to be giving was this past summer. During this past summer season, Emily Calabrese was in receiving mode. She received cancer. It was gift wrapped as lymphoma. Cancer doesn't care if it's Ebenezer Scrooge or the most caring and giving kindergarten teacher on the planet. Cancer is callous and cold, like actuary science in a dark basement. It's straight statistics.   

This past Monday night in Prescott was anything but callous and cold. Christmas season may be over, but everyone was in a giving mood. It was pink and festive.

This past Monday was Calabrese's first full-time day back at work. She was teaching during the day and back at the scorer's table for the Cardinals and Wildcats basketball double header.

"We're so glad to have her back," said Prescott Activities Director Matt Smith. "And Carl's back over in the concession stand working, too. It's awesome."

Prescott held their annual "Coaches vs. Cancer" fundraiser Monday night during the Prescott-River Falls boys’ and girls’ basketball double header. It was not a fundraiser for the Calabreses. It technically wasn't even "their night." They were just there helping out, happy to be in giving-mode again. Emily wasn’t even available to give a short interview. She was already in giving mode running the clock.

It was just an ironic bonus for the Cardinal faithful to have her back at school full-time on this day. The huge poster on the wall in the gym lobby served as a "get-well-soon card" to Calabrese. It was jam-packed with well-wishing messages.

There were signed basketballs by all four participating teams in a raffle, free-will donations, and kids could have their parents try to win a silent auction bid for a chance to play one-on-one against their favorite Cardinal basketball player.

The annual "Coaches vs. Cancer" organizer is Prescott Community Recreation Director Angie Magee. Magee has two children in the Prescott school district and she lost her mother to kidney cancer in 2016. She said when cancer took her mom, the only thing she wanted to do was give back. She organizes a few cancer fundraisers in conjunction with Cardinal sports every year.

 "Cancer just sucks," said Magee. "If you can raise even a little bit of money to help people, then I'm all in." 

"Coaches vs. Cancer" fundraising was happening off the court, but it was also front and center on the court. Calabrese presented the game ball to the referees before the girls' game and every pink "Coaches vs. Cancer" T-shirt worn by coaches, players, and fans was donated by River City Stitch. River City Stitch owner Kim French's daughter, Leah, is a senior forward for the Cardinals.

Cancer doesn't discriminate by gender either. Cardinal senior guard on the boys' side, Aidan Dorau, was diagnosed with cancer in 2017. Dorau beat it. His youth "basketball buddy" sat on the end of the bench wearing a "Dorau T-shirt."

Speaking of the boys’ game, River Falls won by a final of 84-69. The Wildcats’ Brody Graetz was wearing light pink high tops during the game, but he was red-hot. The junior guard pumped in a career-high 34 points on 12 of 20 shooting with five three-pointers. The 6'1" bouncy and quick-as-a-cat Graetz also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists. The Wildcats had a solid team attack with junior Tanner Bottolfson knocking down 18 points on 6 of 12 shooting. Eli Johnson and Preston Johnson scored 11 and nine, respectively. Wildcat junior Austin Stellrecht had a game-high nine rebounds. River Falls improved to 7-2 on the year. Prescott was led by both Kobe Russell and sophomore guard Emmett Otto. Both players scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Cardinals, who fell to 7-3 on the season.    

Emmett Otto's older sister, Violet, was clicking on all cylinders in the nightcap girls' game. The junior guard nailed five three-pointers and finished with a game-high 21 points, as the Cardinal girls squeaked out a 42-38 victory. Seniors Rory Zuehlsdorf and Leah French helped pace the Cardinals with eight and seven points, respectively. Kaelin Jalowitz and Addy Timm led the Wildcats with 12 points apiece. Freshman Rylan Sticht chipped in with eight points.

The Cardinal girls' team improved to 4-6 on the year. The Wildcats fell to 2-9.

Those are the cold hard statistics on the games, actuary science-style. Both schools left with a 1-1 record. Here's another cold hard fact: Emily Calabrese and Aidan Dorau-2, cancer-0.