Brawl at Coastal Carolina, South Alabama women’s basketball game injures referee; 8 players ejected
A brawl between South Alabama and Coastal Carolina in the women’s Sun Belt Tournament in Pensacola, Florida on Wednesday left eight players ejected and knocked a referee to the floor where she required medical attention.
One player, Coastal Carolina’s Tracey Hueston, was suspended for the rest of the 2026 postseason.
There were less than six minutes left in the fourth quarter when South Alabama’s Cordasia Harris and Hueston began fighting under the basket. Harris appeared to bump Hueston slightly from behind before Hueston turned around and began pushing and swinging at Harris, who pushed back.
Video showed two referees, multiple teammates and staff members quickly working to separate the women and referee Marla Gearhar was knocked to the floor in the melee. Gearhar, who lay motionless on the floor, appeared to be hit in the head or neck area by Hueston as the referee was attempting to push her away from Harris.
Gearhar remained on the floor on her back while order was restored and multiple staff members and a medical professional ran onto the court to attend to her. A sheriff’s deputy also came onto the court after the fight ended.
Gearhar was evaluated by medical personnel at the arena and was released, the conference announced.
Hueston and Harris were both given technical fouls and ejected, along with six other players who participated in the fight.
“I know Tracey Hueston regrets that,” Coastal Carolina coach Kevin Pederson said after the game, according to The Athletic. “She’s an incredible model citizen off the floor and she knows she can’t act that way.”
Harris, along with teammates Amyah Sutton and Daniela Gonzalez, were subsequently suspended for one game.
“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,” South Alabama coach Yolisha Jackson told reporters after the game, according to The Athletic.
While South Alabama Athletics Director Joel Erdmann did not condone Jaguars players’ involvement in the altercation, he quibbled with aspects of officials’ rulings.
“The incident that took place in Wednesday’s game is extremely unfortunate and unacceptable,” Erdmann said. “However, after an extensive internal review, I do not believe the actions of all three of our student-athletes rose to the level of being classified as fighting as defined by the NCAA rule book.
“This judgment has negatively impacted the tournament experience of our suspended student-athletes and stripped them of limited opportunities to compete in the postseason,” Erdmann added.
South Alabama won the game 80-70 and is slated to play Texas State on Thursday.
Erdmann said Suton, Gonzalez and Harris will not be allowed to play in that game, CBS affiliate WKRG-TV reported.
