Six players, including two starters, have quit the Louisiana College women's basketball team, according to The Town Talk of Alexandria, La.

Thirteen players walked out of practice to meet with the school's athletic director, Tim Whitman. Seven returned to practice, making a total of 11 under first-year coach Robin Potera-Haskins. The departed starters are Carol Elder and Ashley Peairs.

"They didn't do it to hurt the basketball program," said Lynn Peairs, Ashley's father. "They came into a program where basketball was secondary and helping the girls become well-rounded, moral, Christian girls was more important. I think they knew after a week or so (into the preseason) that that program is no longer there."

The players themselves refused to comment for the newspaper. "We want to compete on the national level," Potera-Haskins said Friday. "I am not going to apologize for that." 

Player turnover was one factor cited by officials at Division I Montana State, when Potera-Haskins was forced out there in 2004, despite compiling a 54-34 record in three years.

"Coach Robin Potera-Haskins is an outstanding Christian and coach," LC president Joe Aguillard said in a statement released Friday by the school. "What she has been able to accomplish this season is phenomenal. She is someone who gives 110 percent all the time and she expects the same from the Lady Wildcats. I know that coach Haskins and the Lady Wildcats are working hard and have high hopes for the future."