A year after the Oak Cliff Faith Family girls basketball program faced discipline for adding at least 18 transfers, another Dallas-area school, Lancaster, is continuing to load up on players from other teams.
The University Interscholastic League prohibits students from transferring for athletic purposes, but Lancaster has brought in at least 10 girls basketball players as transfers over the last two years, including at least three for this season. Only three of the seven transfers from last year ended up playing varsity basketball for Lancaster in the 2024-25 season because multiple players weren’t approved for varsity play.
Lancaster’s coach is LaJeanna Howard, who has a history of success built on transfers. She has also run into trouble with the UIL before.
Howard did not answer phone calls or return a message from The News seeking comment.
The three transfers to Lancaster this year are Pharyn Echols-Johnson from Arlington Seguin, Dalashia Friels from South Grand Prairie and Destini Etier from RWG Academy. The Dallas Morning News confirmed their transfers through interviews, social media posts and direct messages.
Multiple coaches familiar with the situation declined to comment.
Faith Family ended up leaving the UIL so its coaches wouldn’t have to serve two-year suspensions, its transfers wouldn’t be subjected to eligibility hearings and the team could play a national schedule. The UIL had also banned the team from the playoffs for a season.
Howard won a state title as the head coach at her alma mater, Duncanville, in 2020 with McDonald’s All-American Deja Kelly — one of the most controversial transfers in Dallas-area history. After she transferred from San Antonio Johnson, a UIL investigation found former Duncanville girls basketball coach Cathy Self-Morgan guilty of recruiting violations in 2019 and suspended her from coaching for three years.
Kelly was allowed to keep playing and led Duncanville to a state title as a senior.
Howard was suspended for the 2022-23 season by the UIL, which also banned 12-time state champion Duncanville from the playoffs that season, because of a rules violation. In August 2022, two months before UIL teams were allowed to start practicing, Duncanville advertised on a flier that it was holding an open gym and that it was a “tryout.”
At least one player from Arlington Bowie participated in the event, and Bowie’s coach said two players from her school took part. Howard denied the event was a tryout and said Duncanville wasn’t aware at the time that an athlete from another school participated.
The UIL didn’t agree with Howard and said, “That’s sending red flags up all over the place. It shows coaches don’t have a grasp of the rules.”
When Howard was Duncanville’s head coach, 10 players transferred into her program from May 2021 through October 2022, according to previous athletic participation forms The News obtained from Duncanville ISD through an open records request.
Four of the transfers Lancaster added before last season had started the 2023-24 season at Duncanville. One, MaKenzie White, ended up being a first-team All-Area selection and the leading scorer for a Lancaster team that reached the state semifinals for the first time in school history.
Another transfer, Monique Phoenix from North Crowley, was a third-team All-Area selection for Lancaster. That was Lancaster’s first season in Class 6A, and the previous year in 5A it lost in the second round of the playoffs.
Last October, a UIL district executive committee ruled former Duncanville players Kaylinn Kemp and Kenidi Glover ineligible for transferring to Lancaster for athletic purposes. Another standout, Journee Hampton from Colleyville Heritage, had to play junior varsity her first year at Lancaster after her transfer was challenged, but she should be eligible for varsity play this season.
Find more high school sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.