Another junior leaves UNC's women's basketball team
Posted June 19, 2015 4:41 p.m. EDT
Chapel Hill, N.C. — Another junior joined the list Friday of women's basketball players leaving the University of North Carolina Friday.
Stephanie Mavunga has permission to talk to other schools, an athletic department spokesman said.
Mavunga joins Allisha Gray, Diamond Deshields and Jessica Washington in seeking her release.
Her move comes amid uncertainty on the Tar Heel team about any penalties the NCAA will impose, and the answer to that question could be months away.
In a notice of allegations June 4, the NCAA found the university lacked institutional control for a period of 18 years when the then-Department of African and Afro-American Studies offered classes that never met and manipulated grades for those who enrolled. Of 169 student-athletes who benefited from the scheme, eight were women's basketball players, and a former counselor for that team was mentioned specifically by the NCAA and fired by UNC.
If the NCAA process unfolds along the expected timeline, it could be the end of basketball season before the Tar Heels learn their punishment.