Bizarre WNBA Ejection Involves Thrown Shoe

The WNBA is not short on drama this season, and the latest incident involves a thrown shoe. New York Liberty forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton was ejected late in Sunday's game against the Toronto Tempo after a firing a "projectile" onto the court that struck Toronto's Marina Mabrey in the back, reports USA Today. You can see Mabrey get hit here. Two things of note: Laney-Hamilton did not throw her own shoe, and both she and Mabrey say there was no malice involved. It seems that Laney-Hamilton's teammate, Jonquel Jones, had lost her shoe moments earlier, and Laney-Hamilton says she was trying to throw it back to her during a stoppage in play.

• Laney-Hamilton: "I would never intentionally try to hit someone with a shoe, especially while they're not looking," she said after the game. "Teammate was without a shoe, so I did my best to try and get it to her. Unfortunately, it did hit someone."
• Mabrey: "I had to take a couple breaths," recounted Mabrey, who initially looked to retaliate, per ESPN. "But I think she was really just trying to get the shoe back to JJ. But I'll take the free throw." Mabrey did indeed make a free throw on the technical foul. Her team won 93-91.
• The refs: Official Kevin Fahy told a pool reporter that, in the refs' view, Laney-Hamilton "picked up a shoe and threw it at Marina Mabrey, and it hit Marina in the back, so she received her second technical foul and subsequently was ejected from the basketball game."