A riotous brawl broke out at a major women’s college basketball game after one player grabbed a rival by the hair.
The women’s basketball teams from Texas Christian University and George Washington University faced off Monday night, and in the second quarter, TCU’s 22-year-old senior Bella Cravens, 6’3”, leaped high in the air to grab an offensive rebound. When she landed, GWU’s Essence Brown grabbed Craven’s long ponytail with her left hand, causing Cravens to drop the ball, which Brown then grabbed and started downcourt. Play was stopped, but then Cravens charged Brown, precipitating a melee in which multiple players joined.
Oh my goodness we just had punches thrown between GW and TCU oh my goodness it’s getting SPICY pic.twitter.com/c3SKCNBtSS
— Daniel Frank (@n1a2v3y4) December 6, 2022
It all started with an accidental hair pull and just escalated from there. My goodness. pic.twitter.com/4HIBOqablN
— Daniel Frank (@n1a2v3y4) December 6, 2022
“I honestly didn’t see the initial moment, so I can’t really say what it was,” TCU’s head coach, Raegan Pebley, said. “Like I said, what my team is hearing is, it doesn’t matter who started it, no matter what happened. The way to respond, that’s a life lesson. You have to respond the correct way. You can control that element, and that is what I know for sure we did not do well.”
“We never want to be a part of anything like that. It doesn’t matter to me one bit who started it, who said what, it doesn’t matter, we don’t ever want to be a part of anything like that,” Pebley stated in a post-game interview.
Eight players were ejected from the game, five from GWU and three from TCU.
After 18 minutes of stoppage, here’s the final carnage: pic.twitter.com/5eOBfjPnaP
— Daniel Frank (@n1a2v3y4) December 6, 2022
The director of WRGW sports, the student-run radio station of GWU, declared, “The reason they are all getting ejected is that the altercation happened right in front of the GW bench so everyone who stood up is getting booted. This is a situation in which logic should apply, the team that didn’t instigate probably shouldn’t have their entire team ejected.”
“If this was baseball the game would be played under protest and it would be successfully appealed,” he claimed. “The refs stole this game from GW and did not understand the ejection rule. Hopefully they can pull off a miracle, but either way, this is a disgrace to college basketball.”
If this was baseball the game would be played under protest and it would be successfully appealed. The refs stole this game from GW and did not understand the ejection rule. Hopefully they can pull off a miracle, but either way, this is a disgrace to college basketball. https://t.co/EkBbEIn8OS
— David Korn (@david_korn4) December 6, 2022
“Just got a chance to watch some footage and I’m absolutely stunned that George Washington WBB lost 5 players in a fight that was clearly started by TCU. They had players ejected for…holding their own teammates back? Either way, not a great look and a very perplexing outcome,” one sports commentator observed.
Just got a chance to watch some footage and I’m absolutely stunned that George Washington WBB lost 5 players in a fight that was clearly started by TCU.
They had players ejected for…holding their own teammates back?
Either way, not a great look and a very perplexing outcome.
— Nathan Strauss (@NathanPStrauss) December 6, 2022
TCU won the game, 70-58.
