The Alabama-Auburn rivalry is intense no matter the sport, and on Thursday night, tensions boiled over during a women’s college basketball game between the two rivals.
Near the end of the first half of Alabama’s 51-50 win over Auburn, Auburn’s Hasina Muhammad and Alabama’s Breanna Hayden got into an altercation under the basket after a free throw. The altercation escalated into a bench-clearing brawl.
Hayden launched a punch that connected with Muhammad’s face, and Muhammad responded by throwing a punch of her own. As the players came together, referee Angelica Suffren tried to separate the players, but she was knocked to the floor.
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“I have no idea what completely happened, but BreBre (Hayden) apologized to her team immediately after that and knew that she had made a mistake. So again, I’ll have to go back and evaluate,” said Alabama Kristy Curry, according to ESPN.
Auburn coach Terri Williams-Flournoy was upset following the game.
“You’re always disappointed in situations like that. You never want to see either player from either side ejected from the game. This is the game that they love, the game that they practice to play, and so you never want that to happen,” she said.
Both Muhammad and Hayden, and Alabama’s Meoshonti Knight, were ejected.