Calvary Chapel girls have six wins restored, qualify for playoffs

Calvary Chapel’s girls basketball team is back in the Class 2A Southern League playoffs.

A week after the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association ordered the Lions to forfeit 11 league games because of an ineligible player, a hearing officer determined Calvary Chapel would have six wins restored.

Calvary Chapel appealed the forfeits under the Nevada Administrative Code, which allows schools to challenge the decision if they can “establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the school would have won the game(s) … without the participation of the ineligible pupil.”

An appeal hearing took place Friday, and administrative hearing officer Ira Levine issued his decision Tuesday.

“Calvary acknowledged in the hearing that they had inadvertently played ineligible players and settled a portion of the hearing Friday,” said NIAA executive director Bart Thompson. “The hearing officer just applied the regulations of the association.”

As a result, Calvary Chapel, which originally went from 12-2 to 1-13 in the league, officially finishes 7-7, good for fourth place. Prior to the forfeits, the Lions had finished the regular season in second place. The top four teams qualify for the Southern League playoffs, which begin Friday at Del Sol.

Calvary Chapel will face league champion Needles in the semifinals at 6:20 p.m. Friday. Lake Mead will meet Lincoln County in the other semifinal.

The Lions also had appealed the forfeiture of 11 boys games, but dropped that appeal on Friday.

A spokesman for Calvary Chapel said the school would have no comment on the investigation.

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Contact reporter Bartt Davis at bdavis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4690.