Liberty coach blasts ‘pathetic’ officiating after Betnijah Laney-Hamilton gets ejected for throwing a shoe

The WNBA never fails to produce drama.

In the latest installment, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton was ejected from the New York Liberty’s 93-91 loss to the Toronto Tempo on Sunday afternoon for hitting Marina Mabrey with Jonquel Jones‘ shoe. Yes, you read that correctly. After the defeat, Liberty coach Chris DeMarco let loose on the officials for an “atrocious” and “pathetic” performance down the stretch.

The Liberty, who were on the second day of a back-to-back and entered Sunday’s contest having lost six of their last eight games, fell behind by as many as 20 late in the third quarter, but stormed back in the fourth. With less than two minutes to play, they had cut the deficit down to one, and were about to get the ball back after Laura Juskaite was called for a charge. 

Before play could resume, however, a shoe came flying across the court and hit Mabrey in the back. An incensed Mabrey picked it up and was about to raise hell before she was held back by Liberty players and the officials, who then went to the monitor to review the situation. No camera angle caught the entire incident, but Laney-Hamilton, who was on the bench at the time, had gone on to the court to pick up Jones’ shoe, which had come off on the prior possession, and tossed it back toward Jones. Instead of getting to her teammate, it hit Mabrey. 

Upon review, the officials gave Laney-Hamilton a technical for “throwing a projectile onto the floor.” That was her second technical of the game, so she was ejected. It’s worth noting that Laney-Hamilton was also called for a Flagrant 1 after hitting Mabrey in the face in the second quarter and her first technical was the result of another dust-up between her and Mabrey. 

“I would never intentionally try to hit someone with a shoe, especially while they’re not looking. Teammate was without a shoe, so I did my best to try and get it to her. Unfortunately, it did hit someone,” Laney-Hamilton said after the game. “I know just by the way that things were going throughout the game that it can look a certain way but that’s just not something that I would personally do… especially in a moment like that where game is on the line.”

Mabrey stepped to the line and made the techincal free throw to put the Tempo back up by two, and while the Liberty did briefly tie the game with 1:30 to play, they went scoreless the rest of the way. Breanna Stewart missed a driving runner with less than 10 seconds to play that could have forced overtime. 

DeMarco calls officials’ performance ‘atrocious’ and ‘pathetic’ 

After a lackluster 2025, which ended with a first-round exit, the Liberty made a number of changes, including firing championship-winning coach Sandy Brondello and replacing her with Chris DeMarco — a long-time Golden State Warriors assistant who had no previous WNBA experience. 

DeMarco’s first season in charge has been a roller coaster, and his frustration was evident Sunday after the team’s third consecutive defeat, and seventh in their last nine games. The Liberty entered the season as title favorites, but just after the midway point, they sit in seventh at 13-11. 

“I’ve never seen anything like [Laney-Hamilton’s ejection],” DeMarco said. “I’ve never seen anything like that. We had all the momentum in the world. Shoe hit somebody, ejected, free throws. I’ve also never seen a ref make such an atrocious call when he’s on the other side of the floor. The ball is clearly off the defender and comes over and overturns and gives the ball back to the Tempo at the end of the game.

“I’ve never seen one of the best players to ever play in this league attack the rim and get fouled and absolutely no call, and we’re just gonna play,” DeMarco continued. “Atrocious, pathetic. It was pathetic.”

Asked a follow-up about the ejection, DeMarco again criticized the officials. 

“She’s trying to get the shoe back to JJ. It hit somebody. I think we’re just making stuff up. I have no idea,” DeMarco said. “You’re asking the wrong person. I just know it was just an atrocious, atrocious end of that game from the officials.”