Monday, December 19, 2005

Lady Vols' starter Wiley-Gatewood leaving school

KNOXVILLE – Lady Vols Coach Pat Summitt announced today that sophomore point guard Sa’de Wiley-Gatewood will transfer from Tennessee effective immediately.

Wiley-Gatewood, a 5-foot-9 point guard from Pomona, Calif., was the team’s fourth-leading scorer at 8.0 points per game and had started eight of nine games this season for the top-ranked Lady Vols (9-0).

“Sa’de didn’t feel like she could play her game here,” Summitt said in a release. “We hate to see her leave the Lady Vol family, program and university. I hope she can find great success with her basketball career, academics and life.”

Wiley-Gatewood's future plans, to include where she might transfer to, were not immediately known.

She played in 13 games as a freshman last season until finally having surgery on her left knee, which had suffered from patella tendonitis all season.

“I want to thank everyone at Tennessee – my coaches and teammates, the athletic and academic departments, the fans and the boosters – I really appreciate all of their support,” Wiley-Gatewood said in the release. “The Lady Vol fans were great to me.

“I also want to thank Pat for helping me to improve as a player and to grow as a person. I love my teammates and appreciate their support while I was going through this.”

Wiley-Gatewood left the court due to illness during the second half of Tennessee’s 83-59 victory over Louisiana Tech on Thursday. She practiced briefly on Friday before being sent home to rest and did not participate in Saturday’s practice.

The Lady Vols next play tomorrow night, at home against Princeton.

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