Hurns ask for, receives
release from team
From University News Service
and Staff Reports
Shalicia Hurns has
requested and been granted her release from the Purdue women’s
basketball team.
Hurns was suspended indefinitely
from the team by head coach Kristy Curry on July 3. Hurns’ reinstatement
to the team was contingent upon meeting a list of conditions prepared
by Curry.
"We wanted to do all we could
to help Shalicia as a person and a player, which is our mission for
all the student-athletes in this program," Curry said. "We regret that
it has come to this, but we hope Shalicia can get things in order and
get on the right track. We wish her the best of luck in her basketball
career, but mostly wish her success in life."
Hurns, a 6-foot-3 forward
from Indianapolis, Ind., averaged 9.3 points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds
as a freshman for the 2001 Big Ten champion and NCAA runner-up Boilermakers.
Hurns faces charges from
two separate incidents with authorities this summer.
The incident that became
public first came as a result of a June 28 citation on charges of illegal
consumption of an alcoholic beverage and being a minor in a tavern.
According to police, a West Lafayette Police officer witnessed Hurns,
19, enter a campus-area tavern.
On July 3, Curry suspended
Hurns indefinitely and withdrew her from the Big Ten foreign tour team.
The other incident actually
happened before the June 28 charges related to underage drinking, but
became public on July 17.
According to police records,
Hurns was involved in a hit-and-run traffic accident on June 22. An
ensuing investigation led to charges of maintaining a common nuisance,
possession of marijuana, leaving the scene of an accident and operating
a vehicle while never receiving a driver’s license.
At 11:40 p.m. on June 22,
an owner of a 1994 Jaguar XJ6 reported that their parked car was struck
by another vehicle in the 200 block of Sheetz St. Then, during the early
morning hours of June 23, the vehicle Hurns was driving that matched
the description of a vehicle involved in the hit-and-run, was stopped
at Fourth and Owen streets in Lafayette.
According to police reports,
Hurns told an officer that her license was in her apartment at 230-1
Sheetz St. in West Lafayette. Police followed Hurns to her apartment,
where court records indicate marijuana was found. She told police that
the drugs belonged to someone who had visited her apartment.
After taking police to her
apartment, she was charged with not having a driver’s license and
operating a vehicle. An investigation led to the drug charges being
filed on July 17.
A spokesman in the athletic
department said on July 17, that Curry would have no comment on the
drug charges. A press release from the athletic department announcing
her release from a scholarship on Monday was the first public statement
since the drug charges were filed on July 17.
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