Eight players were ejected and a referee was knocked to the floor, requiring medical attention, after a brawl broke out during South Alabama’s 80-70 victory against Coastal Carolina in a Sun Belt Conference women’s basketball tournament game Wednesday in Pensacola, Fla.
Coastal Carolina forward Tracey Hueston has been suspended by the conference for the rest of the postseason. South Alabama’s Cordasia Harris, Amyah Sutton and Daniela Gonzalez each received a one-game suspension.
The incident started during a stop in action with 5:39 remaining in the fourth quarter when Harris appeared to bump into Hueston from behind underneath the basket. Hueston turned and took a swing at Harris, and others rushed in to separate the players.
Hueston took another swing and appeared to inadvertently hit referee Marla Gearhar with a forearm to the head or neck area. Gearhar was knocked to the floor and remained on her back until multiple staff members and a medical professional were able to attend to her.
The conference later announced that Gearhar “was evaluated by medical personnel at the Pensacola Bay Center and was released.”
A double technical foul was called on Hueston and Harris. They were ejected from the game, along with South Alabama’s Sutton, Gonzalez, Terren Coffil, Saneea Bevley, Princess Okafor Nweze and Jeriyah Baines.
“It’s unfortunate we had the incident with South Al today. I know Tracey Hueston regrets that,” Coastal Carolina coach Kevin Pederson said after the game. “She’s an incredible model citizen off the floor and she knows she can’t act that way. That was extremely frustrating for everybody, certainly something we don’t approve of in this program. It’s nothing you want to see.”
South Alabama athletic director Joel Erdmann said in a statement that while “the incident that took place during Wednesday’s game is extremely unfortunate and unacceptable,” he does not believe Harris, Sutton and Gonzalez were deserving of suspensions.
“After an extensive internal review, I do not believe the actions of all three of our student-athletes rose to the level of being classified as fighting as defined by the NCAA rule book,” Erdmann said. “This judgment has negatively impacted the tournament experience of our suspended student-athletes and stripped them of limited opportunities to compete in the postseason.
“Though I strongly disagree with the judgment of the officials, we will accept the decision from the Sun Belt Conference and turn our focus to supporting coach [Yolisha] Jackson and her team in [Thursday’s] tournament game against Texas State.”
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