By Gerald V. Paul

Shanice Clark of Toronto, a basketball player attending the University of Pennsylvania, was found dead in her apartment early last Sunday morning.

The death of the aspiring broadcaster, raised by a single mother in Toronto, is under investigation although local police said it appeared death was accidental. A preliminary medical report indicated she might have choked on a piece of chewing gum after falling asleep.

“This is so hard to process. Keeping her family in my thoughts and prayers,” Canada’s Olympic star Perdita Felicien said upon hearing of the death.

In 2011, Clark graduated from Cedarbrae Collegiate Institute and went on to play for Santa Fe College in Florida before moving to the current school.

Interim President Geraldine M. Jones said, “On behalf of California University of Pennsylvania, I extend my deepest sympathy to all of Shanice’s family and friends. She will be missed by her teammates and coaches, her classmates and by the entire campus community.”

Cleveland Clunis, founder of a non-profit organization whose basketball program Clark attended, said she pushed herself hard in the sport, travelling to New York in spring and summer, where she would train at St. John’s University and play in the Amateur Athletic Union.

Clark leaves her mother Kashaeka Fearon and one sister.