WCBB Ref Injured, 8 Players Ejected After South Alabama-Coastal Carolina Fight on Video

A fight between South Alabama and Coastal Carolina during their Sun Belt Conference women's basketball tournament second-round matchup led to an injured referee and eight player ejections.

The fracas began when South Alabama's Cordasia Harris and Coastal Carolina's Tracey Hueston got into a physical altercation in the paint with 5:39 left in the game and South Alabama up 64-55 en route to an 80-70 win.

Per Brooke Kirchhofer, who worked as a game analyst on the ESPN+ broadcast: "it looked like there was something said between the two of them and then the sparks lit and that was what led to the scuffle that an official was right in the middle of."

Hueston kept swinging in the direction of Harris, but referee
Marla Gearhart, who was trying to break up the scrap, got hit and went down to the court.

Harris and Hueston were given technicals and ejected from the game. Six additional South Alabama players were ejected for leaving the bench.

Medical personnel attended to Gearhart, who was later walked off the floor, per Kirchhofer. A replacement referee took over for Gearhart for the remainder of the game. Per the Associated Press, there was "no immediate update on the referee's condition."

Both coaches spoke after the game, per Grace Raynor of The Athletic.

Coastal Carolina coach Kevin Pederson remarked: "It's unfortunate we had the incident with South (Alabama) today. I know Tracey Hueston regrets that. She's an incredible model citizen off the floor and she knows she can't act that way. That was extremely frustrating for everybody, certainly something we don't approve of in this program. It's nothing you want to see. You hate to see that in your last game."

South Alabama coach Yolisha Jackson said:

"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 condone that, what happened today. It's a very unfortunate situation for two talented basketball teams that have played in Pensacola in the tournament.

"With young people, sometimes emotions run high and as they go through their growth process and their maturity, sometimes things happen. But we always try to look at it as a lesson learned and make sure the next time that if we are put in a similar situation that we just respond a little differently and so that's what we'll talk about at the hotel tonight."

As for the rest of the game, Coastal Carolina received four three throw attempts and the ball following the extended break. However, the Chanticleers could not take advantage, only hitting one of the free throws and coming up empty on their ensuing possession.

South Alabama now moves onto the third round against No. 8 Texas State but might be significantly shorthanded, per Creg Stephenson of al.com.

The game will take place on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. ET. All tournament games are being held at the Pensacola Bay Center in Pensacola, Florida.