Jennifer Harris, a women's basketball player from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va. She was a one-time player at Penn State who left after having problems with Penn State coach Rene Portland.

Torn between attending the University of Virginia or a school closer to home, high school basketball star Jennifer Harris drew the comfort she craved from a remark made by the woman who would coach her at Penn State.

While visiting Penn State, Ms. Harris said, Lady Lions basketball coach Rene Portland promised to be her "mom away from home" if she accepted a scholarship to play there. To a young woman who calls her mother her best friend, that pledge was the assurance that she belonged at Penn State.

Now, Ms. Harris wishes she'd paid more attention to another remark that she said Mrs. Portland also made to her and her parents.

"She said if I liked Virginia, I couldn't like Penn State because at Virginia the girls dated girls and at Penn State, they dated guys," Ms. Harris said last week. "We heard it, but it was such a shock and we didn't take it into consideration because it didn't have anything to do with why I was there.

"I guess to some people, that would make a difference," she said. "But we kind of just dismissed it as not being important."

Three years later, Ms. Harris said she believes it was all too important to Mrs. Portland, whom she has accused of dismissing her from the Penn State team in the belief she was a lesbian.

"It was a horrible experience," said Ms. Harris, 21, of Lower Paxton, who now is studying psychology and pre-med at James Madison University in Virginia. "It's definitely made me be more cautious of people you put your trust in ... to listen to everything and not let it go over your head."

Last year, Ms. Harris, who said she is not a lesbian, filed discrimination complaints with Penn State and the state Human Relations Commission as well as a federal lawsuit against Mrs. Portland, Athletic Director Tim Curley and the university. Mrs. Portland, who declined to be interviewed, previously said Ms. Harris was removed from the team due to her performance, attitude and lack of commitment.

But earlier this month the university announced it had found that Mrs. Portland violated its anti-discrimination policy on the basis of sexual orientation. The university also said it would fine Mrs. Portland $10,000, place a reprimand in her file and require her to attend diversity training.

To Ms. Harris, the sanctions are not enough. She said she will continue with her lawsuit.

"I just can't stand by and let things happen," she said. "Sometimes you have to do something about it.''

The youngest of four children, Ms. Harris graduated in 2003 from Central Dauphin High School in Harrisburg, where she was a member of the National Honor Society and set all-time records as a scorer. Her talent brought recognition as the Gatorade 2003 Pennsylvania High School Player of the year, and Parade, McDonald's and other organizations chose her as an All-American.

In picking a college, Ms. Harris wanted to stay close to home, particularly to her mother, Pearl Harris, who'd helped to coach her for years.

In visits to Happy Valley, Ms. Harris said, her parents were more concerned about racial tensions on campus than the coach's remarks about dating.

"There were three girls who'd left the team, who all were black. My parents asked if that had anything to do with why they left," Ms. Harris said. "[Mrs. Portland] said it didn't, that they were all dating each other and that's why they had to leave. To me [at that time] it didn't made a difference either way."

As a freshman, Ms. Harris acknowledges that she "messed up a lot" while trying to learn drills and plays. She said she also was upset after Mrs. Portland asked her mother to steer her away from another player, saying the player was believed to be gay and a negative influence.

Then, she said, Mrs. Portland began chiding her for wearing sweat clothes so often and suggested that she should "put tight jeans on a couple of times a week, just to mix it up." Mrs. Portland also criticized her cornrow-braid hairstyle, asked in meetings if she dated girls or allowed girls to stay over in her apartment and told her roommates, who also played basketball, to shun her, Ms. Harris said.

"My freshman year, I was the one who got everything wrong," she said. "By sophomore year, I knew my clothes and hair didn't define me as a person. I guess I found myself."

That fall, Ms. Harris was named a starter. She said she also asked Mrs. Portland if she and other people thought she was gay because of her appearance. Mrs. Portland concurred and again suggested that she change her hair and dress, she said.

By then, Ms. Harris said she was frustrated by the scrutiny and refused to do so. After starting in 22 of 30 games, she said Mrs. Portland revoked her starting spot without explanation and later threatened her with suspension if she didn't take a "mental leave."

Hours after the Lady Lions' playoff loss to Liberty University on March 20, 2005, Ms. Harris said Mrs. Portland summoned her and told her she was done.

"She tells me in a little corner that I had to find somewhere else to go, that it's not working out. I said, 'Well, you have to do what you have to do and I have to do what I have to do.' "

Ms. Harris retained her financial scholarship, but by year's end decided she wanted to play basketball again. She transferred to James Madison University, where coaches and players "just wanted to play basketball" and didn't ask why she'd left Penn State. She sat out a year to comply with NCAA rules, but plans to resume playing this fall.