WNBA suspends 10 players and Mahorn for skirmish

The WNBA punished so many players for their roles in this week’s skirmish that the league is staggering the suspensions by alphabetical order.

“None of us can recall an incident like this,” WNBA president Donna Orender said Thursday during a conference call.

The league suspended Detroit assistant coach Rick Mahorn and 10 players following the dustup between the Shock and the visiting Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday.

Shock forward Plenette Pierson was suspended for four games, the harshest penalty, for initiating and escalating the altercation.

“In our opinion, Plenette was the aggressor,” said Renee Brown, the WNBA’s chief of basketball operations and player relations

Mahorn was suspended for two games, as were Shannon Bobbitt and Murriel Page of the Sparks, for the incident at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

“As a team, we’re incensed that Rick Mahorn was suspended,” Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from Houston, where the Shock were scheduled to play the Comets. “He was trying to be a peacemaker and now he’s being thrown under the bus.”

Brown said Mahorn only started off as a peacemaker before he shoved Sparks star Lisa Leslie.

“Then he took it a step too far,” she said. “When he pushed Lisa, it escalated the situation.”

Players suspended for one game included Detroit’s Kara Braxton, Tasha Humphrey, Elaine Powell and Sheri Sam, along with Los Angeles’ Leslie, Candace Parker and DeLisha Milton-Jones.

Pierson was also fined $1,500 and Mahorn was docked $1,000. The rest of the players involved were fined $500 each.

“I think the fines that were handed out were just,” Los Angeles Sparks coach Michael Cooper said. “I don’t think there is anyone in this league that condones fighting. All players know what happens when you leave the floor and throw a punch. Unfortunately we’re missing four of our five starters. That’s something that we’ll have to deal with but that’s why they call it a team sport.”

Pam Wheeler, director of operations for the WNBA players’ union, said officials are in the process of interviewing players affected by the fines and suspensions while reviewing video of the end of the game.

“A determination of any appeals or grievances will be made shortly,” Wheeler said in a statement.

The melee at The Palace in suburban Detroit—where the infamous brawl between the Pistons, Indiana Pacers and fans was in 2004—broke out with 4.6 seconds left in a game won by the Sparks.

Parker and Pierson got tangled and fell to the court. Deanna Nolan tackled Parker, and Mahorn appeared to push Leslie to the court. Milton-Jones responded by punching Mahorn in the back.

The fracas started moments after Parker and Detroit’s Cheryl Ford had to be separated after Ford fouled Parker. After Ford tried to restrain Pierson, her right knee buckled and she left the floor in a wheelchair and will miss the rest of the season and playoffs due to a torn knee ligament.

Rare buzz was generated for the WNBA by the skirmish, but the source of the spotlight doesn’t thrill the league.

“There’s no doubt that there has been a tremendous amount of attention, but it’s not the type of attention that we seek,” Orender said.

Late scuffle mars Sparks win over Shock

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP)—Candace Parker wanted to focus on all of the good parts of the Los Angeles Sparks’ win over the Detroit Shock.

Unfortunately, it will be the final 5 seconds that everyone else is going to remember.

Parker was one of three players ejected along with Detroit assistant coach Rick Mahorn after an ugly scuffle with 4.6 seconds left in Los Angeles’ 84-81 victory.

“To be honest, I don’t recall exactly what happened,” said Parker, who led Los Angeles with 21 points. “I’ll have to watch the tape.”

The skirmish started moments after Parker and Detroit’s Cheryl Ford had to be separated after Ford fouled Parker.

On the next possession, Parker got tangled up with Detroit’s Plenette Pierson and fell to the ground. As she was getting up, Pierson intentionally ran into her, setting off the melee.

Parker threw a punch at Pierson before being tackled by Detroit’s Deanna Nolan. Players and coaches from both teams joined in, and Mahorn knocked Lisa Leslie to the court at one point.

“I was trying to protect the whole game, the integrity of the game,” he said. “The WNBA is very special to me because I have four daughters. I don’t even raise my hand to them, and I would never push a woman. This game, I love this game too much.”

Mahorn was also involved in the 2004 Pistons-Pacers brawl while working as a Detroit broadcaster, going into the crowd to try to pull Ron Artest away from fans.

“Rick Mahorn is known as a peacemaker, from even the brawl we had here with Indiana,” Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer said. “He went out there to get people off the pile, and to get people to stop the confrontation. That’s who he is, that’s what he does.”

Leslie did not talk to the media, but Los Angeles coach Michael Cooper also said he felt Mahorn was trying to stop the fight.

“I think Rick was trying to play peacemaker, but he’s just too big,” Sparks coach Michael Cooper said. “I was only trying to grab my players, and I didn’t see exactly what happened, but he apparently gently tried to push Lisa away.”

DeLisha Milton-Jones shoved and punched Mahorn after the incident with Leslie, and was ejected, along with Mahorn, Parker and Pierson. Nolan and Shannon Bobbitt received technicals.

“That was unfortunate, but things like that happen in basketball sometimes,” Milton-Jones said. “The league is going to have to decide what kind of action to take.”

Ford sprained her right knee while trying to restrain Pierson, and left the floor in a wheelchair. Her status is unknown.

“I’m glad that none of our players got hurt, and I hope that Cheryl is OK,” Cooper said.

The brawl marred a key victory for Los Angeles, which came in having lost four of five.

“This was a game we needed badly, and we won it,” said Milton-Jones, who scored 19 points. “That’s the important part, despite what happened at the end.”

Detroit rallied from 21 down but missed a chance to win the game in the final 2 minutes. The Shock have now lost two straight at home after starting the season 10-0 at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

“You’re going to be down after losing two games in a row at home, especially emotional, last-minute games, and then throw Ford’s injury on top of that,” Laimbeer said. “I’m sure we’ll get a suspension or two here and there. We can’t get the (Olympic) break fast enough.”

Leslie finished with 10 points for Los Angeles, which swept the two-game season series. Olympic teammate Katie Smith led the Shock with 20 points.

“I haven’t seen something like that, I don’t think, in my whole career,” Smith said. “This is pretty rare.”

The Shock trailed 42-21 in the second quarter, but pulled within 76-75 in the final 90 seconds. Detroit rookie Alexis Hornbuckle then stole the ball from Parker, her former college teammate at Tennessee, but Nolan lost control while going in for what would have been a go-ahead layup.

“We dug ourselves a whole in the first half, because we didn’t come out ready to play,” Smith said. “Two straight games now we’ve given up a lot of points in the first half, and that’s something we’ve got to fix.”