WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

WORCESTER — A former player for the Holy Cross women’s basketball team says in a lawsuit against the school that her coach was ”verbally, emotionally and physically abusive.”

The suit filed Tuesday in New York by former student Ashley Cooper seeks damages and attorney’s fees.

Cooper’s suit names as defendants the Jesuit school in Worcester, head coach Bill Gibbons, athletic director Richard Regan Jr., and associate athletic director Ann Zelesky. Gibbons has coached at Holy Cross for nearly three decades.

Messages were left Wednesday for the defendants.

Cooper, who is no longer at Holy Cross, alleges her coach shook players by the shoulders and struck them during practices and games. Cooper alleges a slap on the back during a game left a red hand print.

The suit alleges college officials knew of the abuse but did not stop it.

Holy…