Lauren Kohn and Jessica Richter will leave the Syracuse women’s basketball team and transfer to other schools, a source close to the team told The Daily Orange yesterday.

The source also said assistant coach Mandy Ronay and director of basketball operations Amy Reckner will leave the program.

Kohn’s father, Bill, confirmed that his daughter will transfer.

‘She is in the process of changing schools,’ Bill Kohn said.

Richter could not be reached for comment last night.

Kohn, a sophomore who started 16 games for the Orange this season, and Richter, a freshman who started 22 games, filed their release papers and will not attend SU next year, the source said.

Kohn was unhappy at Syracuse despite being the fourth-leading scorer this season, the source said. Kohn refused to comment for this story.

Reckner called members of the women’s basketball team to notify them she would not be returning to Syracuse next season, the source said. Reckner was the assistant coach at Adrian High School in Adrian, Mich., where Kohn attended high school. Reckner and Kohn both came to Syracuse in 2003.

The four departures come on the heels of the abrupt in-season resignation of assistant coach Morgan Hall in December 2004. Hall still lives in Syracuse, the source said, but is out of coaching.

The source did not give a specific reason for the departures.

Kohn and Richter are the fourth and fifth players to leave the Syracuse women’s basketball team in the past two years, since head coach Keith Cieplicki took over the program. Marchele Campbell and Tierra Jackson transferred to other schools last season. April Jean left the basketball team in the middle of last season, but remained at SU and graduated in May 2004.

Jackson, a junior, played for Towson this season. She led the Tigers in scoring with 13 points per game.

Junior Jill Norton told The Daily Orange last April she planned to transfer from Syracuse, but changed her mind and returned to school. She played only sparingly this season.

The depleted Orange coaching staff now only includes Cieplicki, associate head coach Matt Luneau and newly hired assistant coach Quentin Hillsman. Syracuse hired Hillsman after the season in March to replace Hall.

SU will lose four players to graduation: Rochelle Coleman, Krystalyn Ellerbe, Chineze Nwagbo and Sarah Wegrzynowicz. The Orange returns four freshmen, one sophomore and one junior from this year’s team, which finished 13-16 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.

This season, Kohn – Cieplicki’s lone recruit in his first year at Syracuse – averaged 7.3 points and shot 41 percent from 3-point range. She originally committed to Vermont but chose to attend Syracuse after Cieplicki was hired. Richter, one of four players in a Top 25 recruiting class, averaged 9.6 points and 4.2 rebounds.

Published on April 19, 2005 at 12:00 pm