Angel Reese made an unfortunate bit of history on Saturday when she became the first player ejected from a game in Unrivaled history. Reese, who is suiting up for Rose BC, was tossed late in the second quarter of her team’s 83-69 win over Laces BC.
“Everything happened pretty quickly,” Rose head coach Nola Henry said during her post-game press conference. “The players are super competitive, and at times that competitveness makes them become a little bit emotional. While I understood her frustration completely, she’ll grow from that in terms of keeping her composure… My conversation was just, I wanted clarity around what she said just so I could have a conversation with her after the game about it. Still a super young player, so she’s growing and learning.”
With less than a minute to go in the first half, Reese found herself on an island guarding Tiffany Hayes. The veteran guard lost control of the ball on her first drive attempt, and as she regathered control, Reese began clapping as she sat down in a defensive stance. Hayes then tried to drive again and was fouled by Reese, who sent her sprawling to the ground.
As Reese walked away from the play she waved her hand multiple times, seemingly at Hayes, but the official on the baseline felt it was directed at him and gave her a technical foul. Reese and her teammates immediately started arguing and attempting to explain that she wasn’t mad about the foul call. The officials were not interested in that explanation.
Eventually, as one official tried to get Reese to move out of the way so Hayes could shoot her free throw, Reese did or said something that drew reactions from both Hayes and Jackie Young. It’s unclear exactly what happened, as it wasn’t on camera, but the refs gave her another technical and tossed her from the game.
“I think there was a little bit of confusion just in that whole interaction all together,” Henry said. “Just wanted clarity around what was said, and it wasn’t much.”
Reese finished the night with six points, 15 rebounds and three assists on 2 of 7 from the field. Entering Saturday, she was averaging 11.2 points and eight rebounds on 50% shooting for Rose, who are now 2-4 and sit in fifth place in the standings.
Unrivaled is a new 3-on-3 basketball league co-founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier. It was designed to give players a chance to stay at home during the offseason and earn real money in the process. The league will run through March 17.