Bowling Green police are investigating an assault that occurred after a women’s basketball game between the Falcons and Memphis Tigers at the Stroh Center in Bowling Green, Ohio on Thursday night.
Bowling Green beat Memphis 73-60 in the third round of the women’s NIT. Elissa Brett scored 15 points for the Falcons, while Jamirah Shutes scored 13 for Memphis.
The two players had some conflict during the game when Shutes gave Brett a hard foul.
BGSU's Elissa Brett took an absolute shot/hard elbow from Memphis' Jamirah Shutes. Refs are going to the monitor to take another look, could be upgraded to flagrant or intentional foul.
— Michael Burwell (@Michael_Burwell) March 23, 2023
Then after the game, Shutes stopped Brett in the handshake line to confront her. Shutes smacked Brett, knocking Brett to the ground before Shutes was pushed away.
BGSU women’s basketball moving on to the final 8 of the WNIT after beating Memphis — but this will steal the headlines unfortunately.
Ugly, ugly scene in the handshake line. A Memphis player punched Elissa Brett. Just brutal. pic.twitter.com/2hptXYBEtj
— Jordan Strack (@JordanStrack) March 24, 2023
Bowling Green athletics issued a statement saying that the incident has been turned over to the Bowling Green State University Police Department.
BGSU has released a statement regarding Elissa Brett being hit by a Memphis player in the handshake line after the game: pic.twitter.com/v0zKZuhF0J
— Troy Gingerich (@troy_gingerich) March 24, 2023
This is the second incident during a postgame handshake line that has gone poorly in women’s postseason basketball over the last week.
Each time someone misbehaves after a game, people say we need to get rid of postgame handshakes. Of course, those people are wrong. I will remind everyone why.
Sportsmanship is a very important component of athletics. It’s important to be able to treat each other civilly after a competition ends and to appreciate the game that was just played.
For the winner, being humble and showing respect to your opponent demonstrates class and grace. For the loser, being able to look your opponent in the eye and let them know that while they may have gotten the best of you this time, they won’t next time, is equally important as it builds motivation.
We shouldn’t be lowering our standards of behavior each time something goes badly. Rather, the expectations should be raised so that these incidents don’t repeat themselves.
