Terri Mann Withdraws From Western Kentucky : Former Point Loma Star Refuses to Accept Team’s Disciplinary Measures

Terri Mann, two-time girls’ state basketball player of the year at Point Loma High School, withdrew from Western Kentucky University Monday after refusing to accept team disciplinary measures, her college coach said.

“We have established team rules and regulations that all of our athletes are expected to abide by,” Paul Sanderford, Western Kentucky’s women’s basketball coach, said in a statement. “Terri has been inconsistent in dealing with these, particularly in the areas of class attendance, curfew and participation in team study hall and preseason conditioning.”

Sanderford said he was not surprised that Mann, who underwent reconstructive knee surgery last year and played in only 12 games, withdrew from the school.

“I’m disappointed she chose to withdraw, but that was one of her alternatives,” he said. “We have certain policies and standards that everyone on the team has to live up to. If they don’t, there are consequences.”

Sanderford said that Mann was academically eligible to play this season. He also said his major concern with Mann, a 6-foot 4-inch sophomore, was her class attendance this semester.

“The knee surgery last February caused her to be absent from quite a few classes, but she still was satisfactory last year,” Sanderford said.

San Diego State Coach Earnest Riggins, who recruited Mann when she was at Point Loma, said he has been contacted by both Mann’s mother, Willie, and Lee Trepanier, Point Loma’s girls’ basketball coach, about the possibility of Mann transferring to SDSU.

“However, it’s too premature at this point to say what’s going to happen,” Riggins said. “I can’t even talk with Terri unless she calls me, and then I’d tell her I need a release (of her scholarship) from Sanderford.

“I don’t want to make a statement too soon. I’d have to talk with Western Kentucky and Terri before we would make a commitment to her. We want good athletes and good students, but not at any cost.”

Willie Mann denied talking with Riggins. She also said she was unaware of any problems Terri was having at Western Kentucky.

Trepanier said he spoke with Riggins, but not to indicate he wants Mann to transfer to SDSU.

“I deny that fully,” Trepanier said. “I really think she needs time to sit down and think what she’s doing.”

Efforts to reach Terri Mann were unsuccessful.

Mann averaged 12.8 points and 8.3 rebounds in 12 games at Western Kentucky last season. She started the first eight games, but injured her knee Dec. 19 at Southern Illinois.

She missed the next three games, hoping her knee would improve without surgery, and then attempted to play in the team’s next four games. However, it soon became obvious that she needed surgery.

Mann was named California girls’ player of the year in both 1986 and 1987 by Cal-Hi Sports magazine.