HS Title Game Ends in Controversial Call and Refs Running off Court

A Texas High School Girls championship game ended in a peculiar manner as a seemingly blatant foul was ignored, leaving three officials to scurry off the court before explaining themselves. 

The Daily Mail's James Rush spotted this video uploaded to YouTube by Troy Davis. Davis doesn't give a ton of information on the play in the description except to note what certainly looks like a foul at the end of the game and also throwing a spotlight on the fact that an apparent call is made before the red light shines. 

Thankfully, Rush provides a link to a full report BY WFAA's Joe Trahan. 

It all goes down in the 3A Girls' Region II Final between Celina and Argyle—a game that certainly seems to have deserved a far less controversial ending. 

The game was already in its second overtime when Celina's Kynese Davis gets the ball with 4.8 seconds on the clock and her team down by one point. 

She manages to get to about the three-point line before launching a shot. At the same time, she draws contact from an Argyle player and then a whistle sounds. 

Celina head coach Jordan Davis states, via Trahan's report: "When the whistle was blown, there wasn't a doubt in my mind there was a foul." It seems like some of the girls from Argyle agree, because they put their hands up in apparent frustration, thinking a foul was called. 

But there wasn't. 

The referees instead pack their figurative bags and head for the exits, immediately. 

Davis continues, "To walk into that locker room and not be able to give them an explanation of what happened and some type of closure, that's probably one of the hardest things I've ever done."

The report states that Celina principal Bill Hemby pleaded with tournament officials to get some statement from the referees, but the referees weren't talking. 

Trahan notes that the Celina officials protested to the University Interscholastic League (UIL). The answer would not offer the kind of closure they were looking for. The UIL's statement reads, "Once the game is over, UIL rules do not allow any type of protest based on an official's judgment or decision."

The Daily Mail's James Rush contacted the UIL who explained, "The call made by the officials at the end of the Argyle vs Celina girls basketball 3A regional championship final was a judgment call."

So an odd play will be how this tale ends, because further digging by Rush shows UIL rules mandate no protest can be made "on an official's judgment or decision."

What's left is just a lot of confused people. Even The Dallas Morning News' David Just writes, "Had the refs awarded the foul or not called anything at all, this series of events might just be considered a bad call/no-call. But to blow the whistle and call a foul, then run off the court is a puzzling decision."

Celina doesn't seem close to getting an answer from the officials who worked the game. As for the UIL rules, they may need some adjustment. 

In this day and age of ubiquitous video recording devices, this is hardly the last time we see a controversial high school call run rampant on the Internet. 

If a protest is too much, perhaps we might just get an explanation of what exactly they saw. That's not too much to ask. 

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