Late Wednesday night, HillRaisers greeted students at the doors of the RCC with high fives and chants of “Go Hilltoppers,” which could mean only one thing–basketball season is right around the corner.

At the annual Midnight Madness basketball season kickoff event on Oct. 20, the women’s basketball team beat the men’s basketball team 10-8 at the three pointer shoot offs.

The win for women in the battle of the sexes ensured that all female students received a coupon for five free wings to Pluckers, a local wing bar.

But the three-point contest was not the only draw. Festivities at the event included games, performances by the Hilltopper Cheerleading Squad and the Sapphire Dance Team, as well as food and prizes.

“It was a lot of fun. I thought the games were really good this year,” Sapphire Dancer Michelle Dennig said.

Midnight Madness began shortly after 9:30 p.m. when the HillRaisers threw shirts, mini air basketballs, and koozies to the students sitting in the stands.

Students were also asked to get in the game. In a combination of six minute-to-win-it themed games, students were offered the opportunity to win gift baskets.

In the first game, Hanky Panky, three students including one student dressed in an all green body suit were to remove all tissues from a tissue box in one minute the winner received a basket of goodies from the HillRaisers.

The university’s Sapphire dancers then performed choreography to “All I Do Is Win” by DJ Khaled.

In another game, students were challenged to eat 10 of Pluckers’ hottest wings.

In the last game of the evening, a student tried to bounce a quarter into a water jug for free books for a whole semester. She was unable to in a minute.

“It’s very exciting. There’s a lot of students participating this year,” senior Andres Madrid said.

Select members from the men’s basketball team also competed against each other in a dunking competition. Junior Remy Boswell tried dunking with his Chuck Taylor Converse shoes, but it was junior Khaliq Gross who sent the crowd into a frenzy. Gross did not miss a single dunk.

At the end of the night, student piled out of the gym to get free wings, provided by Pluckers.

The men’s basketball team’s first home game is a Nov. 8 exhibition against Our Lady of the Lake. The women’s team will open the season with a home tournament, the SEU Shootout, on Nov. 12-13.