Perhaps WNBA fans didn’t have a shoe-throwing incident on their bingo cards during Sunday’s game between the New York Liberty and Toronto Tempo. But it did happen in the fourth quarter of the contest at Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec.
With just under two minutes left in regulation, New York guard Betnijah Laney-Hamilton got thrown out after she hit Toronto star Marina Mabrey with a shoe.
The shoe that Laney-Hamilton threw was not hers either. It was teammate Jonquel Jones’ right shoe, which got dislodged from her foot during a rebound. After a break in the game, the shoe hit Mabrey in the back as she was seemingly talking with Toronto head coach Sandy Brondello.
Here is a video of that moment and Laney-Hamilton’s eventual ejection.
Laney Hamilton ejected for throwing a shoe at Marina 💀 ? pic.twitter.com/ojCgEqyTtO
— Shabazz 💫 (@ShowCaseShabazz) July 12, 2026
Laney-Hamilton gave an explanation for her action after the game, saying that it was all unintentional on her part.
“I would never intentionally try to hit someone with a shoe, especially while they’re not looking,” Laney-Hamilton said, via Madeline Kenney of 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.”
That might be a little difficult to believe for some, given that she and Mabrey had been going at it throughout the game.
In an earlier play, Mabrey got hit in the face by Laney-Hamilton’s arm while the two were battling for a loose ball.
Marina Mabrey took an arm to the face from Liberty's Betnijah Laney-Hamilton 😬
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) July 12, 2026
A flagrant 1 foul was assessed to Laney-Hamilton. #WNBA pic.twitter.com/5OlweHHpn6
In the third quarter, Mabrey and Laney-Hamilton were both assessed technical fouls after the former sent the latter to the floor in what appeared to be a retaliatory move by Mabrey.
IT'S GETTING CHIPPY IN MONTREAL 🍿👀
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) July 12, 2026
Marina Mabrey put Betnijah Laney-Hamilton on the floor after the two had a scuffle earlier in the game. Both players received technical fouls. #WNBA pic.twitter.com/d4N341s4Px
Mabrey and the Tempo ultimately got the last laugh in the chippy contest, with Toronto coming away with a 93-91 win to snap a four-game losing skid. She led the Tempo with 30 points on 9/19 shooting in 35 minutes, while Laney-Hamilton only had 6 points in 16 minutes off the bench.
