St. Norbert women's basketball team suspended 10 games for alcohol-related incident
DE PERE – The St. Norbert College women’s basketball team learned a costly lesson Thursday when the school announced the squad will not be allowed to play the next 10 games on the schedule after an on-campus alcohol-related incident involving several players.
The incidents happened at a number of locations on campus over the course of one evening last month.
Along with the 10 games, the Green Knights will be ineligible for the Midwest Conference tournament and the regular-season championship because they are not playing a full league schedule.
SNC women’s coach Connie Tilley, who is in her 41st season with the Green Knights, was not available for comment.
The decision to suspend the team was made by the school and its judicial board and not by the league office. It was not possible to hand out individual suspensions because there were too many involved on the 13-player roster to be able to field a team.
“I think we are all a little heartbroken,” said Rev. Jay Fostner, St. Norbert College vice president of mission and student affairs. “The players and students are certainly feeling disappointed, but they have learned. They have all said clearly, ‘We get this now. We have learned. Time to regroup and move on.’
“Parents are disappointed. The school is disappointed. Our athletic department is disappointed. But it’s about helping our students learn from these incidents and regrouping.”
It was about three weeks ago when the school learned of the situation after a report was filed. It immediately started an investigation and found there was an alcohol-related incident after getting the team together.
The school had an investigator take statements from those at the event, which then went to the judicial board. The board reviewed the statements and also did extensive interviews with players before making the decision that was handed down Thursday morning.
Fostner said he could not get into specifics when asked if only drinking was involved, but he said “basically that’s it.”
He also did not want to say how many players were part of the incidents because of the different levels of involvement.
The suspension of 10 games was determined after the board decided that amount of contests would take the team through the school’s winter break and allow the players to start again next semester.
The first game of the suspension is Saturday in what was supposed to be a home showdown against Cornell (Iowa) College. Among the other canceled games are two contests at the Wilmington College Fred Raizk Memorial Tournament in Ohio on Dec. 20-21.
The Green Knights’ first game off suspension will be at Cornell on Jan. 27. The players are allowed to practice and attend other team functions in the meantime.
SNC is 5-3 to start the season, including 3-0 in league play. It made the NCAA Division III tournament in March despite having 10 freshmen on the roster. It was the fourth straight season the Green Knights advanced to the national tournament, but they already know the streak is over.
“We hope that they come back together as a team, that they are not split over this, that they are supporting one another, they are caring for one another,” Fostner said. “That all of that continues to happen and that the coach will help them move forward, but at the same time making a statement about following rules and regulations, and quite frankly, our values as an institution.”