Girl who wanted to play on boys’ basketball team expelled

NEWARK, N.J. — A girl who wanted to play for her Roman Catholic school’s boys’ basketball team has instead been kicked out of school after her family filed a lawsuit.

Scott Phillips said that he was told Wednesday that both of his daughters would have to leave St. Theresa’s School in Kenilworth.

A judge last month denied the family’s attempt to allow 12-year-old Sydney Phillips to play on the boys team after the girls team was canceled.

The Archdiocese of Newark said in a statement that the school’s parent and student handbook says that parents will be requested to remove their children if they file lawsuits against the school.

Phillips found out about the expulsion while his daughter was practicing with the WNBA’s New York Liberty on Wednesday night. The team invited her family to their practice facility in Tarrytown, New York, after learning that she wasn’t allowed to play with the boys team. She ran drills with players Brittany Boyd and Sugar Rodgers and Teresa Weatherspoon, the team’s director of player development.

“I’m bummed I couldn’t play,” Sydney told NBC New York after she was given a custom Liberty jersey. “I’m better than them.”