By JERRY BYRD Jr., Journal Sports
The man who started the Bossier Parish Community College women’s basketball team in the fall of 2013 found out about the program’s demise last Friday.
“There was silence,” former Lady Cav head coach John Rennie said about learning of the news. “It was disappointing to hear. Myself and several other people built the program from nothing.”
Rennie had high praise for his assistant coach, Yolanda Cooper, and former player, Diamond Willis, both instrumental in getting the program off the ground.
BPCC’s interim head basketball coach Stephanie Williams posted the news Monday afternoon on the team’s Twitter account. Later, the account was taken down.
Tuesday morning, the BPCC Athletic Department released a statement.
“Recently, Bossier Parish Community College made the decision to no longer offer Women’s Basketball in addition to Track and Field beginning the Fall of 2022 semester. A difficult decision such as this was made after careful consideration to the future of BPCC Athletics as a whole.”
The BPCC Athletic Director is Karen Recchia.
Williams’ social media post pointed to the college’s financial woes.
“It is with a heavy heart that I say Bossier Parish Community College has decided to SHUT DOWN the women’s basketball program due to lack of funding,” it read. “They decided to keep men’s basketball, baseball, softball, and women’s cross country.”
Despite the obvious disappointment “on several fronts”, Rennie, who left BPCC and moved into private business a little over a year ago, chose to remain positive about what the program has accomplished.
“In our second year, we made the semifinals of the conference tournament,” Rennie said. “In our third year, we beat Tyler Junior College on their home court. Year in and year out we were competing at a high level in Region 14, which is one of the most competitive divisions in the country.”
Williams, according to her social media post, is also proud of the job her Lady Cavs did this past season.
“We were able to have its first winning season since 2016 and bring respect back to the BPCC program (78 in the nation Massey rating),” she posted. “We beat TJC, who is playing for a national tournament (title) tonight!”
The Lady Cavs were 15-14 last season, 8-10 in conference play. The highlight of the season was the aforementioned 75-71 win over Tyler Junior College. In the win, the Lady Cavs were led by former Red River standout Ma’Kaila Lewis, who scored 30 points – including eight of nine from the free throw line – and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Tyler Junior College won the 2022 NJCAA DI National Championship, the team’s 67th title, with a 92-80 win over Georgia Highlands in Lubbock Monday night.
The Shreveport-Bossier Journal reached out to Williams on Tuesday morning for an interview. She said that she needed to check with the BPCC Athletic Department officials before speaking about the situation. She did not return the call, and the SBJ was unable to reach her again despite numerous attempts.
Photo by LEE HILLER