
Western Oregon University student-athletes Ana McClave (left), Cali McClave (center) and Jodi Noyes (right) at a press conference in Portland, Ore., on Jan. 29, 2025. They are among nine WOU players who allege the women's basketball coaches caused undue physical and mental harm to the team.
Tiffany Camhi / OPB
Note: This story contains descriptions of emotional and physical abuse.
Former members of the Western Oregon University women’s basketball team say they experienced physical and emotional abuse while playing during the 2023-24 season that was so severe it had significant physical and psychological effects, in some cases causing panic attacks, weight and hair loss, and eating disorders.
Nine players filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court against the Monmouth-based school, the university’s president, two coaches, the dean of students and the athletic director.
According to the lawsuit, coaches Jessica Peatross and Demetrius Marlow “physically abused plaintiffs through using excessive and unreasonable amounts of exercise as punishment,” which violates National Collegiate Athletics Association guidelines. The coaches “emotionally abused and humiliated plaintiffs through disparaging comments about their bodies, tearing them down, belittling them, and telling them they were worthless,” the complaint states.
“The running we had to do, it wasn’t for speed, quickness or strength, it was for harm and to see how they could break us,” said WOU senior Ana McClave at a press conference in Portland Wednesday. “They called me dog shit. They called others terrible names.”
After players complained about the conduct, the coaches dismissed 10 out of 12 players from the basketball team, ending their athletic scholarships.
“I met with the coaches and they said that nobody’s welcome back, that we’re not tough enough, that we’re not good for their culture,“ said Western senior Jodi Noyes at the press conference. ”It was truly heartbreaking and devastating.”
Noyes said her full tuition scholarship at Western was revoked after being kicked off the team, and she is now paying out of pocket to finish her last year at the university.
Two players on the team who did not complain about their coaches' conduct were allowed to remain on the team, according to the lawsuit.
Last season canceled due to ‘internal team challenges’
The conflict with the players came to a climax in February 2024. During what the lawsuit describes as a grueling practice on Feb. 12 with the team running for nearly an hour, one player “accidentally ran into Coach Peatross.” Peatross and the players got into a confrontation that ended with campus public safety officers arriving at the gym. Peatross later filed a police report against the player who initially ran into her, saying the player had elbowed her in the chest intentionally.
“However, after a Monmouth police officer was able to finally review the footage, he found that Peatross’ reports to law enforcement were unsubstantiated,” the lawsuit states.
Later that month, the university canceled the remainder of the season “due to internal team challenges.”
In March, the university hired an outside law firm that conducted “a comprehensive fact-finding investigation,” and found it could not sustain the allegations against the coaches, according to university officials. Both Peatross and Marlow returned to their positions the next month.
“We recognize the significance of this and the impact it may have on individuals in the community,” Maureen Brakke, a spokesperson for Western Oregon University, said in a statement Wednesday. “Western is committed to upholding its values and fostering an environment that promotes student success, well-being, and a sense of belonging for all.”

Undated photo of Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Ore. Nine former women's basketball players with the university recently file a lawsuit against their coaches over alleged physical and emotional abuse.
Rob Manning / OPB
According to the filing, beginning in August 2023, Peatross and Marlow began putting players through “extreme, excessive, and punishing workouts in every practice throughout the season.”
As a part of that, players said they were “forced to run until they were physically sick, their feet were bloody, they were vomiting, suffering from dehydration, extreme exhaustion, and even unwanted weight loss,” according to the lawsuit.
If they left the practice to vomit, they were “forced to run more to make up for the time they were vomiting.” If players became injured because of the training, the coaches allegedly told them to ignore the injuries, “causing the injuries to become worse.”
Alleged violation of NCAA guidelines
The coaches also allegedly implemented punitive practices at games.
During the team’s first away game in November 2023, Peatross and Marlow began confiscating the players’ personal belongings the night before the game, the lawsuit claims.
“The coaches would confiscate the players’ phones and threatened to wake them up at 3:00 a.m. and force them to run during the night until the sun came up if plaintiffs were caught with a phone,” the filing said.
The filing alleges that the two coaches violated guidelines set out by the NCAA to prevent overexertion. Players said the coaches also scheduled lengthy practices seven days in a row, exceeding the allowed practice time set by the NCAA.
The filing also laid out allegations of bullying by the coaches. Those included telling players they couldn’t be friends and pitting them against each other. They allegedly made fun of players in front of the team, calling them “spoiled,” “weak” and “lazy.”
In one case, Peatross and Marlow told a player to stop taking antidepressants, saying it was negatively impacting her performance on the court, according to the filing.
“We’re all grieving our loss of basketball. It is a part of our lives and we’ve worked so hard,” McClave said. “It’s just hard because we stood up, we risked that, and we got punished.”