MONTREAL — The spotlight shifted dramatically on Sunday from Betnijah Laney-Hamilton’s strong performance to an unexpected series of events involving a shoe, a clash with Marina Mabrey, and Laney-Hamilton’s first-ever ejection.
With just under two minutes left in the fourth quarter during Sunday’s 93-91 defeat to the Toronto Tempo, Laney-Hamilton was sent to the locker room after mistakenly striking Mabrey with a shoe.
Laney-Hamilton later clarified that she was attempting to return a shoe belonging to Jonquel Jones to her teammate. In the process, the shoe accidentally hit Mabrey, who initially was annoyed before understanding the mishap.
After the game, Mabrey expressed to reporters that she believed the incident wasn’t done on purpose. Laney-Hamilton also assured The Post that the incident was purely accidental.
“I would never aim to hit anyone with a shoe, especially if they’re unaware,” Laney-Hamilton explained. “I was just trying to pass the shoe back to a teammate who needed it. Unfortunately, it ended up hitting someone else.”
Laney-Hamilton knew spectators would try to connect the dots and make the incident a bigger deal than it was. Laney-Hamilton and Mabrey had been going at each other throughout the game as competitors do.
“I know just by the way that things were going throughout the game that it can look a certain way,” Laney-Hamilton said. “But that’s just not something that I would personally do … especially in a moment like that where the game is on the line.”
Laney-Hamilton was assessed a flagrant-1 foul late in the second quarter after her arm made contact with Mabrey’s face while the two scrambled for a loose ball.
In the third quarter, Laney-Hamilton and Mabrey got into a skirmish resulting in both receiving technical fouls.
The shoe throw was Laney-Hamilton’s second tech of the day, resulting in an automatic ejection.
Drama aside, it was one of Laney-Hamilton’s better showings at the office.
With Pauline Astier in foul trouble and Leonie Fiebich and Satou Sabally not with the team because of injuries, Laney-Hamilton helped provide a boost off the bench.
Laney-Hamilton believes her six-point, three-rebound outing is something she can build on.
“It definitely felt good to just kind of find some type of rhythm,” she said. “The game is a game of rhythm and so I think just hopefully I’m able to continue to build on that and everything.”
Laney-Hamilton’s difficult season has been well documented. Her role has fluctuated after returning from a yearlong knee surgery recovery. She’s on a one-year deal and could be a trade candidate with the Aug. 2 deadline approaching.
Laney-Hamilton, though, is doing her best to stay levelheaded.
“Just going into it with the mindset of just staying ready,” she said. “Obviously, it’s been really tough. Everything’s been kind of uncertain and just ups and downs, but I just really been trying to focus on staying ready for the moment and just going out there.”