In a season already mired with injuries, the Wildcats’ roster took another hit over the weekend.

Ipek Turkyilmaz, a junior guard, was deemed ineligible to play by the NCAA Clearinghouse, effectively ending her promising career with the Wildcats.

Turkyilmaz, a native of Izmir, Turkey, transferred to the UA before this season after playing two seasons at Barton Community College in Kansas. Before her time there, she played college basketball in her native country.

According to NCAA eligibility rules, Division-I athletes have 10 semesters to complete their four years of eligibility. The NCAA Clearinghouse ruled her time in Turkey, in addition to her time at Barton Community College, already fulfilled the eligibility limit.

For head coach Niya Butts and her Wildcat team, the news was hard to take.

“”This wasn’t what we wanted to hear,”” Butts said. “”We wanted her as a part of our team. She could have helped us in a lot of ways, but now she obviously won’t be able to.””

Turkyilmaz was going to play a feature role coming off the bench as a 3-point specialist.

“”She can really, really shoot the ball,”” Butts said. “”She is an absolute knock-down 3-point shooter.””

As the team’s best long-range weapon, Turkyilmaz’s presence will surely be missed.

“”We were really looking forward to having her on the team this year,”” Butts said. “”We were going to use her a lot.””

Turkyilmaz will remain with the team as a student manager.