A thriller between the Indiana Fever and the Las Vegas Aces was stopped for several minutes during the third quarter due to an incident involving three fans on Thursday.
The game was paused after Aces guard Jackie Young inbounded the ball and then spoke to a referee while she pointed in the direction of fans sitting court side at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
After that, security escorted a woman who was sitting courtside out through a tunnel. The woman was escorted back to her seat a few minutes later.
Upon her return, security escorted two men who were seated near her out of the game.
Young declined to share details of the incident after the Aces’s 86-84 overtime win against Indiana.
“He was just chirping all game and I let him have it,” Young, who finished with 22 points, nine assists and four rebounds, said.
“Then he just made one that was a little bit too far.”
The Fever issued a statement explained that security found no violation of the fan code of conduct, and that a fan elected to leave the game.
“Following a report of a comment directed toward a player, arena security spoke with the fan involved and witnesses. Security determined there was no violation of the Fan Code of Conduct, the fan was not removed from the arena, but elected to leave. We consider the matter closed,” the Fever said in the statement to USA Today.
WNBA legend Candace Parker and play-by-play announcer Michael Grady spoke about the situation on the broadcast.
“And what I love about today’s game, you can’t sit on the sideline and say anything,” Parker said. “…No room in this game to sit to court side in this game and thing you’re protected because you paid for your seat. Get out of here.”
Grady added, “Consequences, no room for that at all.”
Aces point guard Chelsea Gray spoke of the incident after she made two buzzer-beating 3-pointers — the first to force overtime and then a second to secure the win for Las Vegas in extra minutes.
“I don’t know the specifics, but stuff gets said on the sideline quite often,” Gray said. “It wasn’t directed at me. It was directed at Jackie and she told somebody, and clearly they found reason to kick him out.
“I’ll just leave it there. I mean, if they didn’t find any — they had a reason to take them out. So they’re not gonna just do that for nothing.”
The incident comes amid heated debates of transgendered athletes’ participation in sports following remarks made by Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham.
Cunningham faced scrutiny after she voiced support for barring transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports in a ESPN article, and then doubled down on her comments in the media.
There have since been rallies in support of Cunningham at Fever games.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
