Pierce Drops Women’s Basketball

Pierce College has dropped its women’s basketball program for the rest of the season because of a shortage of players, Athletic Director Marian McWilliams said Wednesday.

The Brahmas (21-10 last season) started the season with nine players but since Thursday have lost two because of injuries and three to academic ineligibility.

“We really hated to do it,” McWilliams said. “But we just felt that we couldn’t field a team that was representative of the school. . . . We’re not dropping the program, it’s just been put on hold until next season.”

Pierce lost Robin Shearin (Achilles’ tendon) and Rae Gentry (ribs) because of injuries last week, and two other players--whom first-year Coach Al Silver would not identify--were ruled academically ineligible.

Down to five players, the Brahmas (1-5) pulled out of the Southwestern tournament in Chula Vista last Friday.

Silver and McWilliams hoped to recruit enough players on campus to help the team continue playing this week, but when another player was ruled academically ineligible Monday, they called it quits.

“We just didn’t have enough bodies to go around,” Silver said. “We could have kept playing, but it would have been with a lot of players from the intramural teams, and I didn’t think that was fair.”

Silver expects sophomore standout Yolanda Davidian to play for Pierce next season. Davidian averaged 12.5 points last season.