The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), the governing body for high school sports in California, took harsh action earlier this month to discourage the participation of ineligible players. The Inglewood High School girl’s basketball team was required to forfeit their first 14 games of the season after two players were found to be ineligible for participation.
Both Inglewood Assistant Principal Randolph Simpson and CIF Southern Section spokesman Thom Simmons confirmed the ineligible players—Deajeana Scurry and Bailey Barbour, both of whom transferred to Inglewood before the season began—as well as the forfeiture penalty, but both declined further comment on the matter.
The South Bay’s Daily Breeze reported last week that the forfeitures had arisen out of an investigation into the eligibility of Scurry, who played for Washington Prep High School last year as a freshman. Scurry was on Inglewood Coach Tony Scott’s club team, the Cal Sparks, last spring before transferring to Inglewood. Inglewood was ordered to forfeit their first seven wins, games in which Scurry had participated, and required to place Scurry on the junior varsity team for the balance of the season.
However, the Breeze further reported that Scurry investigation forced Inglewood to look into the transfers of two other players: Barbour, who transferred from Torrance, and Makeda Beadle, who moved in from Leuzinger High School.
Beadle was cleared, but Barbour was suspended indefinitely until her residency can be established by her parent’s divorce papers, according to the Breeze.In addition, Inglewood was ordered to forfeit all 14 games in which she had played—in essence, all of the first 14 games of its season prior to Saturday, January 10.
On Inglewood’s maxpreps.com team roster, Barbour is still listed, but Scurry’s name is gone. Of the 14 games the team forfeited, nine were wins. Since the forfeits, the Inglewood Sentinels have played four games – all of them wins.
While governing bodies in other states appear to approach eligibility issues with a wink and a nod, the CIF’s action against calls to mind earlier penalties imposed against one-time girls’ basketball powerhouse Narbonne High, which was stripped of its City and State championships and placed on probation for two years after having been found to have suited up ineligible players.