Shante Cummings and Jimerea Lee are both All-Catholic basketball players, yet the pair didn’t suit up for the first Neumann-Goretti home game last Thursday.
The juniors won’t be playing in any other Saints game this season, either.
The Philadelphia Catholic League Board of Governors has upheld a decision to bench the students for a year because they had transferred for "athletic intent."
Cummings and Lee transferred from Hallahan to Ss. John Neumann and Maria Goretti last month.
"It’s frustrating sitting out and not being able to help the team," said Lee, who averaged 15 points per game as a sophomore.
But the Archdiocese of Philadelphia maintains it was following guidelines by not allowing the girls to play.
"It is the policy of the Catholic League that when a student athlete transfers from one high school to another, he/she is ineligible to play for one year unless both principals sign off on the eligibility," according to a statement from the archdiocese.
The rule is designed to prevent Catholic League coaches from recruiting players. Transfers for academic reasons are allowed.
Hallahan principal Sister Susan Marie Kuk did not sign the eligibility papers that would have bypassed the rule.
Neumann-Goretti appealed the archdiocese’s decision to the Board of Governors, which is composed of Catholic school principals. The board upheld the ruling, 15-2, last Thursday — the same day as Neumann-Goretti’s first home game.
Cummings and Lee were both honor students at Hallahan. But Cummings, who averaged 18.6 points per game last season, said she and her teammate disliked the school’s block schedule system, which means longer classes. However, the archdiocese did not buy scheduling as the reason behind the transfers.
"The consensus was that the transfer of the two students was not free from athletic intent," according to a statement.
Both athletes are considered Division I prospects.
Saints coach Chip Reitano believes more than principle was at stake for Hallahan.
"The only two words that came to mind were sour grapes," he said. "Hallahan lost their two best players to their biggest rival. If they were two mediocre players, it wouldn’t be an issue."
Hallahan advanced to the Catholic League semifinals last year. The Saints — then the Goretti Lambs — had their first winning season in more than two decades.
Neumann-Goretti is out of appeals, which means Cummings and Lee will have to wait until their senior year to return to the basketball court.
