A tossed shoe leads to late ejection and derails Liberty rally in a 93-91 loss to Toronto

MONTREAL — Betnijah Laney-Hamilton was tossed from the New York Liberty's 93-91 loss to Toronto on Sunday after she threw a shoe that hit Tempo player Marina Mabrey in the back late in the fourth quarter.

Laney-Hamilton was trying to get the sneaker back to teammate Jonquel Jones after it had fallen off. The errant toss ended up hitting Mabrey. After a review, the officials gave her a technical foul — her second of the game — for throwing a “projectile on the court.”

The incident occurred with 1:48 left in the game and after Mabrey hit the free throw, Toronto had a 91-89 lead. The Liberty had rallied from 20 points down before falling short.

“I’ve never seen anything like that. We had all the momentum in the world. A shoe hit somebody. Ejected, free throws. I’ve also never seen a ref make such an atrocious call when he’s on the other side of the floor,” Liberty coach Chris DeMarco said after the game.

The pool report didn't mention intent, just that the shoe hit Mabrey in the back and Laney-Hamilton was given the technical.

DeMarco said that Laney-Hamilton wasn't trying to hit Mabrey, who agreed that's what happened.

“I had to take a couple breaths,” Mabrey said of her reaction to the shoe hitting her. “But I think she was really just trying to get the shoe back to JJ. But I’ll take the free throw.”

Mabrey and Laney-Hamilton had been jawing at each other the entire game and both were called for a technical foul in the third quarter.

Toronto coach Sandy Brondello, who used to coach the Liberty, said she thought the shoe hitting Mabrey was unintentional.