Believe it or not, New York Liberty’s Betnijah Laney-Hamilton did and it hit none other than Toronto Tempo all-star Marina Mabrey during Sunday’s game in Montreal.
The incident occurred late in the fourth quarter with the Tempo holding a slim lead.
Liberty centre Jonquel Jones had lost her shoe during a previous offensive possession as the Tempo took the ball upcourt.
After the play ended with a whistle being blown, the shoe is seen being tossed from behind halfcourt and hitting Mabrey in the back — much to the bewilderment of many.
After a brief confrontation between Mabrey and some Liberty players, Laney-Hamilton was assessed a technical foul and, as it was her second of the game, she was ejected.
Why was Laney-Hamilton ejected?
The shoe toss was one of several incidents involving Laney-Thompson during the game.
She and Mabrey had each been giving technical fouls during the third quarter on Sunday after getting into a brief skirmish.
The Liberty player also picked up a flagrant-1 foul in the second quarter after her arm made contact with Mabrey’s face during a scramble for a loose ball.
Why did she throw a shoe?
After the game, Laney-Hamilton said that it wasn’t her intention to hit Mabrey with the shoe.
“I would never intentionally try to hit someone with a shoe, especially while they’re not looking,” Laney-Hamilton said, per the New York Post. “Teammate was without a shoe, so I did my best to try and get it to her.
“Unfortunately, it did hit someone … I know just by the way that things were going throughout the game that it can look a certain way, but that’s just not something that I would personally do … especially in a moment like that where the game is on the line.”
Despite the clear evidence that Mabrey was hit by the flung footwear, Liberty coach Chris DeMarco was irate over the officiating.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” DeMarco said, also calling the officiating “atrocious” and “pathetic.” “We had all the momentum in the world. Shoe hit somebody, ejected, free throws.”
When asked specifically about the ejection, DeMarco doubled down.
“We’re just making stuff up, I have no idea,” he said. “You’re asking the wrong person. I just know it was an atrocious end of that game from officials.”