Well, you don’t see this very often.
A brawl broke out in the second half of the women’s SWAC championship game between Southern and Texas Southern, forcing a double-forfeit Saturday night at HP&E Arena in Houston. Yowsers. Although Southern was ahead 51-49 when the benches cleared, the league announced that the score would stand and that the 16-2 teams would share the regular-season title.
The fight broke out after Texas Southern’s Miracle Davis took a charge and two players exchanged unpleasantries. One player appeared to be pushed and it quickly was go time.
“I’ve been involved with basketball for 30-plus years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Southern Coach Sandy Pugh told the Advocate of Baton Rouge, where Southern is located. “It’s an embarrassment.”
Cheerleaders and fans also got into the act as security rushed to assert control.
“I just saw two kids standing up looking at each other and someone else push and yell,” Pugh said. “My first reaction is to tell everyone to stay. But I look up and they have two kids running in. One of their kids throws the first punch and one of our kids was on the ground and someone was just pounding her. Next thing I know it was a melee.”
Alexus Johnson and Diamonisha Sophus of Texas Southern threw punches, according to the Advocate, and security restrained Johnson from going into the Southern locker room to reignite the brawl.
“It was very undisciplined by both teams and fans on the sideline,” TSU Coach Johnette Hayes-Perry said. “I thought after the charge both players were trying to get up, but another player pushed them and that is all I could see.”
On Sunday morning, TSU said in a statement:
An altercation involving the women’s basketball teams from Texas Southern University and Southern University took place on Saturday, March 7 during the final regular season contest for both teams. TSU Athletics has released the following statement regarding the incident.
“At Texas Southern University we hold our student-athletes to high standards in regards to sportsmanship and personal conduct,” said TSU Director of Athletics Dr. Charles McClelland
“An unfortunate incident occurred during the second half of our women’s basketball with Southern University that undoubtedly does not reflect the core values and principles that we expect our student-athletes to exhibit at all times. Both institutions along with the conference office are in the process of reviewing the incident and gathering additional information.”
Southern (18-10) was a game behind Texas Southern (19-10) coming into the game. As for next week’s SWAC tournament, Texas Southern is the No. 1 seed, with Southern No. 2 — which means the teams could meet against next week.
“I’m not sure where this is going to go from here,” Pugh said. “I’m a basketball coach. I’m not the wrestling coach. I’m not the boxing coach. I’m not the psychologist. I’m just so incredibly embarrassed and disappointed. This is a stain on women’s basketball. I want to apologize to the Southern Jaguar Nation, because that is not who we are.”
After spending most of her career in traditional print sports journalism, Cindy began blogging and tweeting, first as NFL/Redskins editor, and, since August 2010, at The Early Lead. She also is the social media editor for Sports.
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