When UMass announced that Sharon Dawley had been fired, it looked like her successor would inherit a nice situation.
The Minutewomen’s strong finish to their 2015-16 season was largely sparked by their young backcourt of sophomore Cierra Dillard and freshman Bria Stallworth.
Dillard, UMass’ top scorer last year at 15.5 points per game, requested and received her release even before the school announced Tory Verdi was replacing Dawley. She has since enrolled at Buffalo.
Stallworth, who averaged 13.1 points and a team-high 3.8 assists per game, disappeared from UMass’ online roster on Tuesday and according to spokesman John Sinnett, “Bria has been granted a release from the program to transfer.”
There’s no word on where the 5-foot-6 Chicago native plans to transfer to.
Verdi will have just seven scholarship players returning for next season. Junior forward Alyssa Lawrence, who averaged 8.4 points, is now the team’s top returning scorer.
UMass signed five players during the early signing period in the fall, a center, a forward and three perimeter players.
UMass baseball falls — Fairfield scored twice in the seventh and once in the eight to edge the Minutemen, 4-2, Tuesday in Connecticut.
Hunter Carey had two hits and drove in both runs, while Cooper Mrowka, Dylan Morris and Jon Avallone each had two hits for UMass (15-27).
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage