Loyola Women’s Team Is Losing Two Players : Colleges: Senior Jesko will apply to redshirt because of a back injury. Freshman Murray is released from scholarship and plans to transfer.

The Loyola Marymount women’s basketball team, off to one of its best starts ever with a 5-2 record, has suffered two setbacks.

Coach Todd Corman said Monday that senior forward Jamie Jesko has decided to redshirt because of a lower back injury, and freshman guard Princess Murray has asked for and been granted a release from her scholarship. Murray, regarded as one of the program’s top recruits, plans to transfer.

Corman said the loss of the 5-foot-9 Jesko, who was second on the Lions in scoring with a 12.8 average and among the team’s rebounding leaders, is particularly damaging.

“Jamie Jesko is going to be a significant loss for our team because she’s our team leader and a player that the younger kids really look up to,” Corman said. “She’s going to be missed even though she will still be on the bench at games.

“We lose 13 points a game but more importantly we lose a girl who started four years for us and she’s an integral part of the program.”

He said Jesko would not have been at 100% if she played the rest of the season. “We met with doctors and her parents and decided it would be in her best interest if she sat out the rest of the season,” Corman said.

Jesko, who started five games this season, is eligible to redshirt under NCAA rules because she has played in less than 20% of Loyola’s games. She will retain a season of eligibility.

Corman said doctors expect Jesko to be at full strength for next season.

“It’s been hurting for quite a while and I never paid much attention to it,” Jesko said. “Finally, I went to a doctor and he checked it out. What (the doctors) told me is to rest as much as I can for about three or four weeks and then we’ll see how it is coming along.

“It’s disappointing, but I feel like I can come back from this. At least, I’m going to try.”

The coach said Murray, an All-Southern Section standout at Morningside High last season, departed with mutual consent of herself and the school.

He said Murray, who played only seven minutes of one game, had been slowed because of a recurring shoulder injury. He also said she was struggling academically.

“There were a lot of setbacks for her because of her injury and her academic situation,” Corman said. “I think she could have gained a lot of things by being at Loyola Marymount, but I think the biggest problem was socially. She didn’t feel as if she fit in socially at the school.”

Corman said Murray left the school on good terms.

“She’s a great girl,” he said. “She’s a lot of fun to be around and she’s just a very nice person.”

He said Murray is considering transferring to Cal State Long Beach, Nevada Las Vegas and Arizona State, among others.

“Any time you have schools like that interested in you, you have to know that she was a fine athlete and she definitely would’ve contributed a lot to our school,” Corman said.

Despite the loss of Jesko and Murray, Corman says the program is still headed in the right direction.

“I’m very optimistic about things,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is build the program so we can be a contender for the next few years and we have a really great freshman class.”