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The Colleges : Community College Women’s Basketball : Cypress Cancels Its Season Because of Lack of Players

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Times Staff Writer

The Cypress College women’s basketball team, defending champion of the Orange Empire Conference, canceled the remainder of its season Wednesday because of a lack of players, Athletic Director Dick Van Voorhis said.

Cypress originally had been scheduled to play Saddleback in the conference opener Wednesday night, but Saddleback, which has been unable to attract players or a coach, has not had a team all season. The conference is now down to five teams--Fullerton, Golden West, Orange Coast, Rancho Santiago and Riverside.

“It’s very unfortunate we had to cancel the remainder of our schedule,” Van Voorhis said. “We will, however, field a team for the 1989-90 season.”

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Cypress Coach Gerry Livsey was out of town on a family matter and unavailable for comment.

Cypress was 24-8 overall last season and won the conference championship with a 10-0 record. The Chargers lost in the second round of the playoffs.

Cypress started this season with seven players and was 6-12 in nonconference games.

The news was not totally unexpected; Livsey knew she would be losing two of her seven players at the start of this week. Becky Wayland, who was averaging 21 points a game, was expected to leave the team today to begin active duty in the Army. And Lynne Egan, a sophomore guard, transferred to Cal Poly Pomona after the fall semester.

But when Kelly Gillespie, who has been bothered by shin splints, decided she couldn’t play the rest of the season, Cypress was left with only four players.

The Cypress player hit hardest is sophomore forward Vicky Silva, an all-state player last season. Silva was averaging 24 points a game and had moved into third place on the all-time Cypress scoring list.

Silva, from Fullerton High School, ended her 1 1/2 seasons with 959 points. Cheryl Hoffman (1984-86) heads the list with 1,067 points. Silva could not be reached on Wednesday.

The loss of Cypress means the remaining teams will play 8 conference games instead of 10.

“I’m very disappointed,” Fullerton Coach Colleen Riley said. “You spend the whole nonconference season building up towards the conference season and now with another team out, it’s a real letdown.

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