An all-out brawl erupted during a Sun Belt Conference women’s basketball tournament game on Wednesday, March 4, resulting in eight ejections and a referee knocked to the floor.
The fight occurred with about five minutes remaining in the University of South Alabama’s 80-70 win over Coastal Carolina University. It appears to have started amid an argument between Coastal Carolina’s Tracey Hueston and South Alabama’s Cordasia Harris.
Hueston, 23, then appeared to throw a punch at Harris, 24. Players and coaches from both teams tried to intervene as referee Marla Gearhart was knocked to the floor in the melee.
The other two referees came to Gearhart’s aid and arena medical staff evaluated and released her, according to the Associated Press.
South Alabama’s Amyah Sutton, Daniela Gonzalez, Saneea Bevley, Terren Coffil, Princess Okafor Nweze and Jeriyah Baines were ejected along with Harris and Coastal Carolina’s Hueston.
Sutton, 20, Gonzalez, 23, and Harris were all suspended for the Jaguars’ third-round game against Texas State University on Thursday, March 5, according to athletic director Dr. Joel Erdmann. They are the team’s three leading scorers.
“The University of South Alabama does not condone fighting under any circumstance,” Erdmann, 62, wrote in a statement shared to the school’s athletics website. “The incident that took place during Wednesday’s game is extremely unfortunate and unacceptable. We will use this as an opportunity to learn and grow in our efforts to become better in the future.”
Erdmann also pushed back on the league’s characterization of the trio’s actions, which triggered the suspension as the Jaguars are fighting to make the NCAA Tournament.
“That being said, I am the first to acknowledge that college basketball officials have an extremely challenging and thankless job,” he wrote. “We are greatly concerned about the official that was injured during the game. However, 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.”
He continued, “This judgement has negatively impacted the tournament experience of our suspended student-athletes and stripped them of limited opportunities to compete in the postseason.”
South Alabama coach Yolisha Jackson told reporters that “we never want to act out like that.”
“With young people, sometimes emotions run high, and as they go through their growth process and their maturity, sometimes things happen,” she said. “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 added, “I know Tracey Hueston regrets that. 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. You hate to see that in your last game.”
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