A brawl during the Sun Belt Conference women’s basketball tournament led to a referee being inadvertently knocked out by a player.
South Alabama’s 80-70 win over Coastal Carolina in the second round on Wednesday afternoon descended into chaos in the fourth quarter when players from both sides began exchanging words — and then fists.
South Alabama’s Cordasia Harris and Coastal Carolina’s Tracey Hueston briefly chirped at one another before the latter tried to shove and swing at the former.
One teammate of Harris grabbed her to restrain her before she could retaliate. Another South Alabama player, along with a ref, got between the two.
A second referee also ran into the fray when Hueston swung again and struck them, knocking the official to the floor.
The ref was motionless for a moment as a South Alabama staffer and another official guarded the area around the injured referee to ensure no further damage could be inflicted.
Staff members and medical personnel rushed to the court to check on the official.
It was not immediately clear what the referee’s status was after the game.
A double technical foul was handed out with Hueston and Harris ejected along with six other players who participated in the melee.
“Well, first of all, our program, we never want to be put in that situation and we never want to act out like that, so we don’t condone that, what happened today. It’s a very unfortunate situation for two talented basketball teams that have played in Pensacola in the tournament,” South Alabama coach Yolisha Jackson told reporters after the game, per The Athletic.
“With young people, sometimes emotions run high and as they go through their growth process and their maturity, sometimes things happen. But we always try to look at it as a lesson learned and make sure the next time that if we are put in a similar situation that we just respond a little differently and so that’s what we’ll talk about at the hotel tonight.”
Coastal Carolina coach Kevin Pederson described the incident as “unfortunate” and added that he knows Hueston “regrets” what happened.
“She’s an incredible model citizen off the floor and she knows she can’t act that way,” he said. “That was extremely frustrating for everybody, certainly something we don’t approve of in this program. It’s nothing you want to see. You hate to see that in your last game.”
