MONTREAL (AP) — 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 was trying to get the sneaker back to teammate Jonquel Jones after it had fallen off. The errant toss ended up hitting Mabrey. After a review, the officials gave her 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.
“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.
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. “But I think she was really just trying to get the shoe back to JJ. But I’ll take the free throw.”
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.
Toronto coach Sandy Brondello, who used to coach the Liberty, said she thought the shoe hitting Mabrey was unintentional.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
Pickleball Read morePickleball
Dirk van Ulden said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.