Brawl at women's college basketball game injures ref; 8 players ejected
#women's basketball #Sun Belt Tournament #player ejection #referee injury #NCAA suspension #college brawl #South Alabama #Coastal Carolina
📌 Key Takeaways
- Eight players ejected after women's basketball brawl injures referee
- Tracey Hueston suspended for rest of 2026 postseason after altercation
- Referee Marla Gearhar knocked to floor, required medical attention
- South Alabama wins 80-70 despite suspensions affecting next game
- South Alabama AD questions officials' ruling on player ejections
📖 Full Retelling
A brawl between South Alabama and Coastal Carolina women's basketball teams during the Sun Belt Tournament in Pensacola, Florida on Wednesday, March 5, 2026, left eight players ejected and injured referee Marla Gearhar after she was knocked to the floor during the melee, which began when players Cordasia Harris and Tracey Hueston started fighting under the basket with less than six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. The altercation escalated as Hueston turned around and began pushing and swinging at Harris after being bumped from behind, with video showing two referees and multiple teammates attempting to separate the combatants before Gearhar was struck in the head or neck area while trying to intervene. The referee remained motionless on her back while medical personnel and a sheriff's deputy attended to her before she was eventually evaluated and released from the arena. Coastal Carolina's Tracey Hueston received the most severe penalty, being suspended for the remainder of the 2026 postseason, while Harris and six other players from both teams were ejected from the game. South Alabama won the contest 80-70 despite the disruption, with their suspended players—Cordasia Harris, Amyah Sutton, and Daniela Gonzalez—ruled out of the next game against Texas State. Both coaches expressed regret over the incident, with Coastal Carolina's Kevin Pederson acknowledging Hueston's lapse in judgment despite her typically exemplary conduct, while South Alabama's Yolisha Jackson emphasized her program's disapproval of such behavior. Athletics Director Joel Erdmann, however, questioned the officials' ruling, arguing that not all three of his ejected players' actions met the NCAA's definition of fighting.
🏷️ Themes
Sports Violence, College Athletics, Tournament Competition
📚 Related People & Topics
Sun Belt Tournament
Topics referred to by the same term
Sun Belt Championship or Sun Belt Tournament may refer to:
South Alabama
U.S. state geographic region
South Alabama and Lower Alabama are overlapping, poorly defined terms for various parts of southern Alabama. Although it is not a strictly defined geographic region, it generally includes all Alabama counties south of the Black Belt. In that view, South Alabama consists of just the two counties that...
Coastal Carolina University
Public university in Conway, South Carolina, US
Coastal Carolina University (CCU or Coastal) is a public university in Conway, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College, and later joining the University of South Carolina System as USC Coastal Carolina, it became an independent university in 1993. The univer...
Entity Intersection Graph
Connections for Sun Belt Tournament:
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Sun Belt Conference
3 shared
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Georgia Southern University
3 shared
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University of Southern Mississippi
2 shared
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Arkansas State Red Wolves
1 shared
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Georgia Southern Eagles
1 shared
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Original Source
U.S. Brawl at Coastal Carolina, South Alabama women's basketball game injures referee; 8 players ejected Updated on: March 5, 2026 / 6:23 AM EST / CBS/AP Add CBS News on Google A brawl between South Alabama and Coastal Carolina in the women's Sun Belt Tournament in Pensacola, Florida on Wednesday left eight players ejected and knocked a referee to the floor where she required medical attention. One player, Coastal Carolina's Tracey Hueston, was suspended for the rest of the 2026 postseason. There were less than six minutes left in the fourth quarter when South Alabama's Cordasia Harris and Hueston began fighting under the basket. Harris appeared to bump Hueston slightly from behind before Hueston turned around and began pushing and swinging at Harris, who pushed back. Video showed two referees, multiple teammates and staff members quickly working to separate the women and referee Marla Gearhar was knocked to the floor in the melee. Gearhar, who lay motionless on the floor, appeared to be hit in the head or neck area by Hueston as the referee was attempting to push her away from Harris. Gearhar remained on the floor on her back while order was restored and multiple staff members and a medical professional ran onto the court to attend to her. A sheriff's deputy also came onto the court after the fight ended. Gearhar was evaluated by medical personnel at the arena and was released, the conference announced. Hueston and Harris were both given technical fouls and ejected, along with six other players who participated in the fight. "I know Tracey Hueston regrets that," Coastal Carolina coach Kevin Pederson said after the game, according to The Athletic . "She's an incredible model citizen off the floor and she knows she can't act that way." Harris, along with teammates Amyah Sutton and Daniela Gonzalez, were subsequently suspended for one game. "Well, first of all, our program, we never want to be put in that situation and we never want to act out like that, so we don't c...
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