Tempers flared and a shoe flew in Sunday’s WNBA game between the New York Liberty and the Toronto Tempo, leaving Liberty head coach Chris DeMarco absolutely livid after a controversial ejection turned the tide in a 93-91 loss.
The moment in question came late in the second half. Liberty forward Jonquel Jones lost her shoe during a scramble, and guard Betnijah Laney-Hamilton grabbed it, apparently trying to toss it back to her teammate. Instead, the shoe sailed toward Tempo guard Marina Mabrey and made contact. The officials hit Laney-Hamilton with a technical foul and ejected her from the game.
DeMarco did not hold back in his postgame comments.
“I have never seen anything like that,” DeMarco told reporters, including Myles Ehrlich. “We had all the momentum in the world. A shoe hit somebody. Ejected, free throws. I have also never seen a ref make such an atrocious call when he is on the other side of the floor. The ball is clearly off the defender, and comes over and overturns and gives the ball back to the Tempo.”
He called parts of the officiating “pathetic” and said the whole sequence was bizarre from start to finish.
Laney-Hamilton Explains the Shoe Toss
For her part, Laney-Hamilton insisted the whole thing was an accident. She said she had no intention of hitting Mabrey and was just trying to get Jones her shoe back quickly so the game could continue.
“I would never intentionally try to hit someone with a shoe, especially while they are not looking,” Laney-Hamilton said, according to Madeline Kenny. “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 is just not something that I would personally do. Especially in a moment like that where the game is on the line.”
Both Laney-Hamilton and Mabrey had already picked up technical fouls after a back-and-forth exchange in the third quarter. The tension had been building, and the shoe incident pushed it over the edge.
The Liberty now sit at 13-11 on the season. They will look to get back in the win column on July 16 when they host the Dallas Wings.
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