Loyola’s women’s basketball Head Coach Sheryl Swoopes will only welcome back six of her current players next year after a disappointing second season for the team in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC).
This year’s letdown made change inevitable for the Ramblers. The team finished with a 6-25 overall record and a 3-15 record in the MVC.
A total of eight current players will not return next year, but only three of those players — Katie Faught, Courtney Lindfors and Molly Crosby — are leaving because they’re graduating.
“As I completed my end-of-year meetings, there was a mix of reasons as to why these players are not returning,” said Swoopes in a statement released on the athletic site. “We will ensure they have the support they need to have a strong finish in the classroom and onto their next step. I wish each one of them success in the future.”
Swoopes declined to make further comments to The PHOENIX.
Freshman Courtney Williams is one of the players who will not return to the team next season, but she said on-court problems were not the main reason for her departure.
“It was a lot of stuff off the court that [Swoopes] made difficult, but as far as her coaching style, it wasn’t really a factor,” said Williams. “It was a lot of stuff that was unrelated to basketball.”
Both Williams and Swoopes declined to go into further detail about the situation.
Williams hasn’t made a decision about where she will play next season, but she plans to continue playing basketball at either a Division I or Division II university.
While Faught, Lindfors and Crosby will not use their fifth year of NCAA eligibility to play basketball, senior Simone Law has applied to several MBA and research and sponsored programs at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she plans to play out her fifth year of eligibility. She will not be returning to the Ramblers due to what she called a mutual split between her and Swoopes.
“I just decided I would try something different,” said Law. “After four years here, it was time for me to start somewhere new and experience a whole new play and type of style.”
Law is not the only player transferring. Freshman forward Destiny Washington has verbally committed to play basketball at Ball State University next fall.
The Indianapolis native said her decision was based on personal reasons.
“I wasn’t happy [here] and I was very homesick,” said Washington.
The two other players that will not return to the team are sophomores Tiana Karopulos and Bailey Farley.
Karopulos declined an interview with The PHOENIX and Farley did not respond to an interview request. It is unknown whether Karopulos and Farley will remain students at Loyola or transfer to another university to continue their basketball careers.
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