W. Hoops Freshman Cassie Pappas Out Indefinitely

Before women’s basketball coach Mike McLaughlin’s first recruiting class has even made it to the regular season, Penn’s rebuilding effort is off to an injury-riddled start.

Cassie Pappas, a recruit heralded for her scoring ability and on-court energy and competitiveness, is out indefinitely for undisclosed medical reasons.

“It’s a medical issue,” McLaughlin said. “That’s the best I can tell you right now for privacy reasons.”

The Quakers will also begin the season stretched thin on the interior, as freshman center Lauren Kraemer has an injury that will keep her out of practice for about a month.

Pappas’ name has been removed from the Penn Athletics official roster, though McLaughlin declined to comment on her removal. Even without Pappas, five of the team’s 12 remaining players are freshmen, so younger players will get ample opportunity for playing time. McLaughlin said that the team’s inexperience isn’t limited to only the freshmen, but he expects his players to be ready to play on both ends of the floor.

“Sometimes I think inexperience is an excuse,” McLaughlin said. “I have a lot of faith in them that they understand the game and that they should be able to compete right away.” He added that freshman Kristen Kody will now be able to “challenge for more minutes” and that fellow freshman Alyssa Baron is “someone we expect big things from pretty quickly.”

The return of senior guard/forward Erin Power, who left the team last year due to the burden of switching from Wharton to a pre-med curriculum, should also help to offset Pappas’ loss.