Published: 07:04 PM, Tue Jan 01, 2013
Two girls' basketball players are ejected for fighting in a game
By Earl Vaughan Jr.
Scholastic sports editor
Two girls' basketball players, one each from Gray's Creek and Douglas Byrd, were ejected for fighting in last week's Holiday Classic basketball tournament, and they face additional penalties under N.C. High School Athletic Association rules.
Brad Allen, booking agent for the Southeastern Basketball Officials Association, said he received automatic notification of the ejections from an online reporting system during the holiday break after a report was filed by the game officials. The players were not identified.
The two players were involved in an altercation that occurred during the Holiday Classic game between Gray's Creek and Byrd. It was a play-in bracket consolation game played last Thursday at South View to open the tournament.
Allen said he had not seen video of the incident, but he had spoken to David Culbreth, athletic director at South View, the site director.
"It sounds like a sort of incendiary moment where we had a hard foul on one player,'' Allen said. "A player reacts with a push and blows were thrown by those two players.
"They were the only two involved. No players entered the court from the bench. It was a tinder box kind of thing that did not escalate further.''
Since both teams were in the consolation play-in bracket, they did not compete further in the holiday tournament. According to the NCHSAA handbook, the penalty for fighting in basketball is suspension from playing in the next four games.
Both schools resume play when they return to school this week, so the penalty will be enforced starting then.
Scholastic sports editor Earl Vaughan Jr. can be reached at vaughane@fayobserver.com or 486-3519.