Associated Press
The WNBA punished so many players for their roles in this week’s skirmish that the league is staggering the suspensions by alphabetical order.
“None of us can recall an incident like this,” WNBA president Donna Orender said Thursday during a conference call.
The league suspended Detroit assistant coach Rick Mahorn and 10 players following the dustup between the Shock and the visiting Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday.
Shock forward Plenette Pierson was suspended for four games, the harshest penalty, for initiating and escalating the altercation.
“In our opinion, Plenette was the aggressor,” said Renee Brown, the WNBA’s chief of basketball operations and player relations
Mahorn was suspended for two games, as were Shannon Bobbitt and Murriel Page of the Sparks, for the incident at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
“As a team, we’re incensed that Rick Mahorn was suspended,” Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from Houston, where the Shock was scheduled to play the Comets. “He was trying to be a peacemaker and now he’s being thrown under the bus.”
Brown said Mahorn only started off as a peacemaker before he shoved Sparks star Lisa Leslie.
“Then he took it a step too far,” she said. “When he pushed Lisa, it escalated the situation.”
Players suspended for one game included Detroit’s Kara Braxton, Tasha Humphrey, Elaine Powell and Sheri Sam, along with Los Angeles’ Leslie, Candace Parker and DeLisha Milton-Jones.
“I feel sorry for Bobbitt and for Murriel getting two games for coming off the bench, but that is what the league felt necessary,” Parker said.
Four of the suspended Shock players and Mahorn began serving their suspensions on Thursday night, where Detroit played Houston. Sam was on the active roster, but the Shock were left with eight players for the game, including 50-year-old Nancy Lieberman, who signed a seven-day contract on Thursday.
Lieberman said her signing was more than just a publicity stunt aimed at directing attention away from Tuesday’s fight.
“The other night was really sad and I watched it and was very disappointed,” Lieberman said.
Pierson was also fined $1,500 and Mahorn was docked $1,000. The rest of the players involved were fined $500 each.
“I think the fines that were handed out were just,” Los Angeles Sparks coach Michael Cooper said.
Laimbeer would not comment further on the suspensions of his players, but backed up Mahorn again before Thursday’s game.
“It’s unfortunate that players get suspended. These things happen,” he said. “That’s the way business works some days. I don’t comment on suspensions because it’s beyond my control. Except for Rick Mahorn. He was out there being a peacemaker, something happened and he was not involved and that’s bad.”