July 13 (UPI) -- New York Liberty guard/forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton was ejected during an eventual loss to the Toronto Tempo after she hit guard Marina Mabrey with a shoe.
The incident happened with 1:48 remaining in the 93-91 setback Sunday in Montreal. Laney-Hamilton, who picked up an initial technical foul earlier in the game for a separate incident with Mabrey, said she did not intend to hit her opponent with the shoe.
"I would never intentionally try to hit someone with a shoe, especially while they're not looking," Laney-Hamilton said, according to the New York Post. "Teammate was without a shoe, so I did my best to try and get it to her. Unfortunately, it did hit someone."
Laney-Hamilton was on the bench during the incident. She hit Mabrey in the back with the shoe, which came off teammate Jonquel Jones' foot.
"She was trying to get the shoe back to J.J.," Liberty coach Chris DeMarco told reporters. "It hit somebody. I think we are just making stuff up. ... I just know it was an atrocious end to that game from the officials."
