Wisconsin women's basketball head coach Lisa Stone will take her team into hostile West Lafayette, Ind., Sunday in hopes to avenge a 52-51, last-second home loss to the same Purdue Boilermaker squad just over a week ago.
Yet things will look much different for the Badgers, as Wisconsin (4-8 Big Ten, 14-9 overall) will be without junior forward Mariah Dunham, who was dismissed by the coaching staff due to repeated violations of team rules.""
Stone issued a release on uwbadgers.com, saying, ""This was a very tough decision to make, but in the best interests of the program, we felt that it was time for Mariah to leave the team. We wish her the best in her future endeavors.""
In an interview with the Watertown Daily Times, Dunham admitted to striking a man at a Madison bar.
""At [a karaoke bar], one of my friends was really wasted,"" Dunham said. ""I was trying to help her. This guy starts saying stuff and shoves her. I hit the guy in the face. The bartender said I had to leave.
""There were no cops, nothing was involved. It was my fault. I admitted it. I should have walked away. It was a dumb thing that I did. I was in a tight spot [trying] to help my friend out. I acted out instead of thinking and I did it.""
Dunham said the coaches called her into their office last week and said Dunham would not be making last Sunday's trip to Ann Arbor, Mich.
""They take me after practice, and I explain the story,"" Dunham said. ""I said, 'I'll accept anything you want to do to me.' They said, 'Well, you are suspended. You aren't going on the Michigan trip.' I accepted that it was a knucklehead thing to do.""
While Dunham was willing to accept any punishment sent forth by the coaches, she said she had no idea she would be forced to turn in her uniform.
""After the Michigan game, they didn't say anything,"" Dunham said. ""We got two days of practice off. I figured they would talk to me then. I got a text message from coach Stone saying 'Come in, I need to talk to you.' She sits down and she's like, 'You're off the team.'
""That was the last straw. Right then, I just lost it. I was in tears, saying, 'How can you guys do this? I made a dumb decision, I know that. I just lost my aunt [to a terminal illness] two weeks ago, who was like a mom to me. The whole month hasn't been easy on me. I have to deal with my family's emotional status and now we're losing. I should have told you about the fight, and now you're going to kick me off the team?'""
The 2006 Wisconsin High School AP Player of the Year said she wanted to remain part of the program to be there for her teammates: ""I said, 'Suspend me for the whole year, make me a manager, but I don't want to leave the girls downstairs.' But they said, 'We've already made our decision.' ""This came out of nowhere.""
Dunham recalled tension with the coaching staff after the Jan. 29 Purdue loss, in which Dunham scored just two points in 17 minutes.
""I was walking off the court because that girl hit that 3
