Women’s Michigan-Maryland hoops game paused after punches thrown over loose ball fight
The Michigan-Maryland women’s basketball game was paused when a fight over a loose ball turned into an on-court brawl Wednesday night.
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The Michigan-Maryland women’s basketball game was paused when a fight over a loose ball turned into an on-court brawl Wednesday night.
Michigan’s Lauren Hansen and Maryland’s Bri McDaniel got tangled up while battling for a loose ball with less than four minutes left in the third quarter — when the Terrapins led the Wolverines, 52-44, at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor.
Things turned physical and it appeared punches were thrown, as shown in a video of the scuffle, which was posted by Women Hooping on YouTube.
The referee blew the whistle, but Hansen and McDaniel continued going at it.
Players from both teams attempted to separate the two, and a referee was seen escorting McDaniel to the sideline.
“Some hands were kind of thrown,” one of the broadcasters said when a replay video showed a different angle of the scuffle.
Both McDaniel and Hansen were given technical fouls and ejected after a review.
Hansen, who had played for most of the game up to that point, had 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting when she was ejected.
Michigan went on to beat Maryland, 79-77, in overtime.
Michigan rallied and came back to force overtime after Maryland went cold offensively — attempting only nine shots in the fourth quarter.
A failed inbounds play that led to a turnover ruined Maryland’s chances of winning the game in extra minutes.
Maryland coach Brenda Frese was surprised the skirmish didn’t inspire her squad.
“I thought [the ejection] was going to motivate us,” Frese said. “But it didn’t really rally us in any way. I thought Michigan was just a lot more inspired [after the ejections].”
Chyra Evans led the Wolverines with 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists, while Jakia Brown-Turner recorded 12 points, six and seven for the Terrapins.
Maryland (12-7) will travel to State College to face Penn State (14-5) on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
The Wolverines (14-6) visit Michigan State (14-5) on Saturday at 12 p.m. ET.
