With a new coach, the Syracuse women’s basketball team has a fresh start.

Problem is, it will be starting without two key players.

Shannon Perry and April Jean will not participate with the Orangewomen for the fall semester because of academic issues, head coach Keith Cieplicki said.

‘I’ve learned in this business, there’s always going to be something,’ Cieplicki said. ‘You don’t worry about what you don’t have.’

The Orangewomen now don’t have two of last season’s starters. Perry – SU’s most complete player – led Syracuse in points per game (15.8) and steals (71), and her 10.4 rebounds per game placed her second in the Big East behind Georgetown’s Rebecca Brunson.

Perry, a senior, missed two games last season because of academic issues. She was not listed on Syracuse’s roster on the team’s Web site yesterday.

Jean, a junior-college transfer, started 26 of 28 games last season and averaged 10.2 points and 7.1 rebounds.

Perry and Jean can return to the Orangewomen after the fall semester’s grades are processed, Cieplicki said. At best, the pair will return early during Winter Break.

Last season, Syracuse, which finished 11-18 under since-departed coach Marianna Freeman, played seven games during the fall semester and seven games during Winter Break.

Not all news was bad for SU, though. It also announced that Lauren Kohn, a freshman from Adrian, Mich., will join the Orangewomen. Kohn, a 5-foot-10, All-State guard, originally signed to play at Vermont, where Cieplicki coached last year.

‘Once I committed to coming (to Syracuse), I let all that go,’ Cieplicki said. ‘It just had a way of working out.’

It helped that Amy Reckner, who Cieplicki hired as director of basketball operations, was an assistant coach for Kohn at Adrian High School. Reckner and Kohn were very close, Cieplicki said.

Cieplicki actually met Reckner while he was recruiting Kohn to play for Vermont and was so impressed that he hired her.

Kohn joins guard Tracy Harbut to form Syracuse’s recruiting class.

‘(Kohn) understands the way I coach,’ Cieplicki said. ‘She’s a good addition. She’s going to play a real nice role, especially for our first year’

Published on September 15, 2003 at 12:00 pm