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Las Vegas, NV — For the second time this year, two teams were involved in a fight, which led to multiple players being ejected. Tonight, (Saturday) with 1:10 left in the third period of the UNLV-Utah State game, Antonina Robinson of Utah State and Katie Powell of UNLV shoved Antonina Robinson who then retaliated which began the fight on the court.
Soon after more players joined the brawl, including many leaving their respective benches. Once officials were able to get the commotion under control, Robinson and Powell both were ejected, along with three other teammates from both teams, totaling in eight players that were thrown out.
Tyler Bischoff of the Mountain West Network shared the fight via Twitter:
A fight broke out in the UNLV Utah State women's basketball game. pic.twitter.com/JzwutY8A9n
— Tyler Bischoff (@Bischoff_Tyler) January 8, 2017
“Throughout the game she was playing a little dirty. Words were exchanged. I just told her to chill out,” Powell told the Las Vegas Review Journal following the game. “And then we came to the other side of the floor. Brooke got fouled. I was walking to go help her up. She bumped me and then pushed me and then I just kind of swung at her.”
UNLV head coach Kathy Olivier had this to say in regards to the situation:
“For the players that did leave the bench, they didn’t know better. That was all our new players that did that. Do I ever go over that? No. I didn’t think I needed to do that, so that’s my mistake (not) saying that you can never leave the bench. They saw me go out there and wanted to try to help me, but I was helping the situation. They cannot leave the bench.”