The Syracuse women’s basketball team will be without two of its players for the upcoming season.

Brittany Smith, a junior forward, and Juanita Ward, a junior college transfer, will not suit up for the Orange this year. Smith, who was redshirted last season due to a foot injury, requested her release from the team for personal reasons, an athletic department spokesman said Monday.

Ward will also not be playing basketball for SU this year, though she plans to practice with the team in the spring and will be eligible to play in the 2008-09 season. Head coach Quentin Hillsman had announced during media day Friday that Ward would play for the Orange beginning in January.

But Monday, the athletic department said Ward is ineligible to play this season under NCAA rules, and she must sit out until the fall. Ward is finishing up her degree at Odessa (Texas) College and is scheduled to graduate at the end of the semester. She will have two years of eligibility when she comes to SU.

Smith appeared in 21 games for the Orange during her freshman year in 2005-06, averaging 5.7 points and 5.3 rebounds. She was third on the team in rebounding average, free throw percentage and blocked shots.

Ward, a 5-foot-11 guard, was part of a recruiting class ranked 11th in the country by All-Star Girls Report. She and freshman Erica Morrow were the first two Syracuse recruits to play in the McDonald’s All-American game. Ward averaged 15.8 points per game while playing at Odessa.

The Orange began practice last week and will open up the 2007-08 season on Nov. 17 against Coppin State in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Published on October 15, 2007 at 12:00 pm