Betnijah Laney-Hamilton was tossed from the New York Liberty’s 93-91 loss to Toronto on Sunday after she threw a shoe that hit Tempo player Marina Mabrey in the back late in the fourth quarter.
Laney-Hamilton later insisted that she was trying to get the sneaker back to teammate Jonquel Jones after it had fallen off. But the errant throw ended up hitting Mabrey, who initially looked furious once she realized what had happened.
After a review, the officials gave Laney-Hamilton a technical foul – her second of the game – for throwing a ‘projectile on the court.’
The incident occurred with 1:48 left in the game and after Mabrey hit the free throw, Toronto had a 91-89 lead. The Liberty had rallied from 20 points down before falling short.
Mabrey and Laney-Hamilton had been jawing at each other the entire game and both were called for a technical foul in the third quarter.
‘I’ve never seen anything like that. We had all the momentum in the world. A shoe hit somebody. Ejected, free throws. I’ve also never seen a ref make such an atrocious call when he’s on the other side of the floor,’ Liberty coach Chris DeMarco said after the game.
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton threw a shoe that hit Toronto Tempo player Marina Mabrey
The bizarre moment felt significant as the pair had been jawing throughout the game
The pool report didn’t mention intent, just that the shoe hit Mabrey in the back and Laney-Hamilton was given the technical.
DeMarco said that Laney-Hamilton wasn’t trying to hit Mabrey, who agreed that’s what happened.
‘I had to take a couple breaths,’ Mabrey said of her reaction to the shoe hitting her. She was calmed by both the referee and a couple of other Liberty players.
‘But I think she was really just trying to get the shoe back to JJ. But I’ll take the free throw.’
Laney-Hamilton insisted that her own feud on the court with Mabrey wasn’t worth settling late on at the expense of the team.
‘I would never intentionally try to hit someone with a shoe, especially while they’re not looking,’ she said, as per the New York Post.
‘Teammate was without a shoe, so I did my best to try and get it to her. Unfortunately, it did hit someone.
‘I know just by the way that things were going throughout the game that it can look a certain way, but that’s just not something that I would personally do… especially in a moment like that where game is on the line.’
Mabrey admitted that she needed a second to cool off after getting hit by the flying shoe
Toronto coach Sandy Brondello, who used to coach the Liberty, said she thought the shoe hitting Mabrey was unintentional.
Liberty, who are now 13-11, don’t play again now until Thursday, against Dallas Wings.
Tempo, meanwhile, moved to 10-13 after one of their most bizarre wins of the season.
